Amelia is the eighth solo studio album by American avant-garde musician Laurie Anderson. It was released on August 30, 2024, through Nonesuch Records, making it her third album for the label. Produced by Anderson herself, it features contributions from Anohni, Filharmonie Brno, Trimbach Trio, Martha Mooke, Marc Ribot, Kenny Wollesen, Tony Sherr and Ryan Kelly. The album debuted at number 41 in Switzerland, number 46 in Scotland and number 74 in Portugal.
The album tributes Amelia Earhart, an American aviation pioneer, who disappeared in the vicinity of an isolated island in the western Pacific Ocean in 1937 and was declared dead in 1939.
Amelia was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81 based on twelve reviews.[2] The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? has the critical consensus of the album at a 7.8 out of 10, based on eight reviews.[1]
Mat Smith of Clash praised the album, stating: "Amelia is this a towering work of artistic endeavour and creative genius which comfortably ranks as one of Anderson's most definitive statements yet".[4] Chris Ingalls of PopMatters called it "a graceful, highly compelling, and entirely successful attempt to musically interpret an important historical event with dignity and eloquence".[6] Valerie Polichar of Spectrum Culture wrote: "by turns delicate, grand and distraught, in this telling of another woman's story, Amelia may in some ways be Anderson's most personal album yet".[8] David Harris of Spin resumed: "on Amelia, Anderson resurrects this courageous woman and gives her breath, heart, and soul. It is impossible to hear this aerial ballet and walk away unaffected".[9] Mark Kidel of The Arts Desk called it "the soundtrack for a film we play in our minds while listening".[10] Piers Martin of Uncut concluded: "Anderson's admiration and affection for this feminist icon is such that you come away from Amelia with a greater respect for those who keep on taking risks".[12]Philip Sherburne of Pitchfork found the album "flits briskly from scene to scene, with just enough musical backing to flesh out the atmosphere: shimmering oceanic drones; subtly driving pulses; dissonant whorls abruptly smoothed into reassuring consonance".[5]AllMusic's Mark Deming wrote: "Amelia might have worked better if Anderson had kept the focus on Earhart's internal dialogue as she struggled to live up to the goal she set for herself and why she chose such a brave and challenging feat, but as it is, it's a collection of interesting ideas and striking moments where the whole doesn't quite equal the sum of the parts".[3]
In his mixed review for The Observer, Damien Morris wrote: "the project's biggest failing is its artless shifting of perspectives between anodyne reportage and first-person journalling, leaving it neither compendious nor immediate enough. As the darker, desperate hours close in amid the chaos and confusion of "The Wrong Way" and "Fly Into the Sun", Amelia finally takes off, but it's a long runway to get there".[11]
