“In Times of Dragons,” the new album from Tori Amos, dropped on Friday, and in order to prepare, I have listened to more Tori Amos in the past two days than I’ve ever listened to before in my life.

I went from thinking about getting a puppy to putting a deposit on a four-week-old whippet in about two weeks. A month later, we were driving home from the breeder’s house in Norwich to London. Tiny ...