Music Review: ‘Amelia’ by Laurie Anderson

Amelia Earhart

One of the great mysteries of the 20th century was the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. While she was attempting to circumnavigate the earth her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. The topic has been fodder for many a book and documentary, but the new recording by Laurie Anderson, simply titled Amelia, is something unique and special.

Anyone who has ever heard any of Anderson’s previous creations will be well aware of her abilities not only as a composer and musician, but also a storyteller. Using music and spoken word she brings her listeners deeper into a story than movies or books can go. 

On Amelia she accompanies her storytelling with her trademark violin and is joined on the album by the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno (conducted by Dennis Russel Davies), the beautiful voice of Anohni, and various other musicians. They combine to recreate the atmosphere of what it might have been like to be stuck in the cabin of a small two-engine plane in the 1930s.

From the noise of the engines to the sounds of the wind and rain on the canopy, Anderson has built an extraordinary soundscape that is a constant presence on the album. From the moment of takeoff in Oakland we follow Amelia’s journey and the sound of her plane is our companion.

The album consists of 22 vignettes – the longest just under four minutes while the shortest is 30 seconds – reflecting different stages of Earhart’s journey. We feel the excitement and anticipation as Anderson takes us through the pilot’s checklist prior to takeoff, and the ensuing liftoff as she sets out on the great adventure.

Anderson takes us step by step through Amelia’s journey, from San Juan to crossing the equator and traveling over the deserts of Africa and Arabia. In her matter-of-fact delivery she tells us of the perils of flying through heat and its impact on a plane’s instruments. 

At one point she has Amelia tell us about a letter she carries in case she has to put down in the Arabian desert. In what we have to assume is Arabic it explains why this person descended from the sky and what assistance she may require. Amelia adds, as an afterthought, that she can’t read the letter.

Anderson does a wonderful job of switching from describing the voyage in the third person to having Amelia telling us what’s going on. We are also filled in on interesting geographical details regarding places like Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific or how in one place in Thailand the word for woman is Mary: “Imagine a whole town of Marys.”

Of course, like the real journey, the album ends in mystery. Amelia’s plane vanishes as it approaches Howland Island, a small atoll in the middle of the Pacific. With a Coast Guard cutter standing by to help guide her, Amelia’s radio signal gradually fades away to nothing. She vanishes without a trace as if into thin air.

Anderson has done the remarkable in bringing this story to life. While most of us know the history of Amelia Earhart, listening to Amelia we feel like we are passengers on this, her last trip. At times we’re in the cockpit with her and her navigator. At other times it feels like we are observing her from a distance as her plane gradually vanishes into the white light of the Pacific Ocean.

With Amelia Laurie Anderson has created a beautiful and compelling recounting of the last voyage of Amelia Earhart. This work is just further proof of Anderson’s greatness as a performance artist.