Thrill 4-5: Let it flow {Barons of Suburbia}

Ah, good old-fashioned Tori! Obscure lyrics? Check. Rhythm jumping all over the place in a way Bryan Adams could never cope with? Check. Awesome piano playing underlying it all? CHECK!

This song was never going to be an instant favourite, simply because there's rather too much to take in on a first listen. Rhythm wise, this is quite possibly the 'jumpiest' song she's ever done, not because the rhythm changes more often but because the speed feels faster than comparable songs (like Spark, God, Carbon or Datura). But mostly it's a three-in-a-bar whirl, and once you get to know where the hiccups are, it seems to me to flow very smoothly indeed. I've seen comments about this song having no melody or being all over place, to which my only response is to think people simply haven't put the effort in to learning the song.

Should music listening be something that takes effort? If you want to move beyond Three Blind Mice and other nursery rhymes, yes.

The song that instantly leapt to mind when hearing Barons of Suburbia for the first time was Carbon (from the Scarlet's Walk album). It's almost like this is what would have happened if the hesitant, wrong key introduction of Carbon had been more confident in itself. 'Barons' launches with plenty of energy and keeps on going.

Correct that last statement: this song actually gathers energy towards the end. I've never seen Tori live (sigh, I was born in the wrong part of the planet) but from the concert recordings I've heard, the last section of this song is easily the closest she has come to catching her live performance style in the studio. There's an edge in her voice that's very exciting, as if she's really caught up in the moment and throwing herself into it.