Taylor Swift, you think you were the first witch to traverse through a snowy forest bathed in moonlight? Tori Amos’s music was made to be played on the winter solstice, a fact she cemented with her 2009 holiday album, Midwinter Graces. Now the piano siren has gifted us another present, Christmastide, a new four-track EP that says “’tis the season” with Tori’s signature emotional piano playing. The title track is the perfect Tori song: powerful and dramatic, yet soothing, reassuring us with lyrics like, “We all need to shine, and wake this Christmastide, side by side.” After a year like this, I would gladly sail away on a calm Christmastide. Tori, take the wheel! —Chris Rudolph
