another notch in my lipstick case
I couldn't listen to this album for the longest time, because it came out during one of the most awful weeks of my life. Even though that was fourteen years ago, I don't think I ever gave it the chance to get into my brain as much as her other albums. One thing I love about it (apart from the fact that it has 'Spark', 'Raspberry Swirl' and 'Cruel' (a killer triple musical threat if ever there was) - is the really unusual artwork. The photographer/artist's name is Katerina Jebb, and her primary method during this period was doing exactly what it looks like: using industrial-size photocopiers, she would literally just lie the subject on it and press 'go'. The images are stunning, somewhere in an ethereal space between a Xerox and an aquarium, with Tori's hair seeming to float, but at the same time looking trapped - preserved like cells on a microscope slide, or a butterfly under glass. There are other beautiful shots of her being held up by tall, blonde models, and a hand-drawn map by Tori that gave directions to the "Choirgirl Hotel" of the title.
Even after all these years, I still find the imagery both alluring and disturbing - a lot like the album itself.