Beth Orton - Shopping Trolley

 #Beth Orton #folktronica #folk rock #trip-hop #contemporary folk rock #electronica #singer-songwriter #music video

Has Beth Orton ever sounded as angry as she does on "Worms", the caustic kiss-off that opens her fourth album? "I'm your apple-eatin' heathen, any ol' rib-stealin' Eve," she sings on the chorus, turning talk of original sin into empowering invective against some unnamed target. It's an odd song with an odd little shuffle to it, and even though it sounds uncannily like Fiona Apple (right down to her rushed cadence at the end of the second verse), the track reminds you how singular Orton seemed on her first two albums and how much she buffed away the rough edges on her third album, Daybreaker, an AOR makeover that aimed for but missed the same listeners who one year later made Norah Jones a sensation.
So it's nice to have the old Beth Orton back. It's also nice to have Jim O'Rourke at the helm, particularly because he puts some rhythm back into her songs. Orton needs it, too: Her voice hits your ears at an angle, as if refracted prismatically, and O'Rourke's sturdy beats don't reset that angle to perpendicular so much as make sure it hits its target with a little more force. Comfort of Strangers is strongest when O'Rourke and percussionist Tim Barnes translate Trailer Park's spacey effects into earthier rhythms, especially with the oscillating bass line and tight drum beat on "Conceived". They let loose on "Countenance" and are joined by what sounds like a full band on "Shopping Trolley". The intro to the title track sounds like "Walk on the Wild Side", but to their credit, Orton and O'Rourke undercut that seedy strut with handclaps, sparkling piano, and perhaps her most straightforward performance.
Orton's vocals - so arced and mellifluous - reign over all other sounds on Comfort of Strangers. On Daybreaker, her voice sounded like an empty vessel, beautiful but conveying very little; here it has a very real personality behind it, one that allows itself to be angry, cynical, hopeful, and snide - a complex and compelling emotional mess. This attitude fits her songwriting well, giving her words added resonance. On "Heartland Truckstop" she sings, "I wanted to love, but I turned 'round and hated it," and her strong, glaring delivery of that second line - as if she's making eye contact through her voice - reinforces not just the wordplay, but the cheated disappointment of the sentiment.  From: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6050-comfort-of-strangers/

Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name

 #Beth Orton #folktronica #folk rock #trip-hop #contemporary folk rock #electronica #singer-songwriter

Beth Orton is the rare vocalist who exists between disparate worlds; she is a singer with a folkie soul who is as comfortable accompanied by an acoustic guitar as by electronic rhythms. Indeed, most people first heard her on William Orbit's Hinterland album and on the Chemical Brothers' Exit Planet Dust. Likewise, her slightly askance vocal style seems to betray naiveté, while lyrically there is a world-weary depth that the latest spate of tough-talking Lolitas cannot muster. Each song's closely observed details create small ripples that grow to substantial emotional waves by album's end; this very promising debut (Trailer Park) should be the harbinger of great things to come from Orton, with or without the help of a Lilith Fair or anything beyond the integrity of her songs and the wise lilt of her voice.  From: https://www.amazon.com/Trailer-Park-Beth-Orton/dp/B000003RSF

As if being the poster girl for a convoluted sub-genre like folktronica weren’t bad enough, Beth Orton of Norfolk, England has also tried to live down (so far unsuccessfully) a phenomenal debut that was evidently a case of sheer timing — and quite possibly a baldfaced fluke. Her world-weary yet somehow still ingenuous voice — a seamless patchwork of the best Carole King and Rickie Lee Jones have to offer — has continued to be a pleasure.
Orton entered the scene through the agency of artist-producer William Orbit, a man able to make even Madonna sound cool. Calling themselves Spill, the duo put out a single in ’92 (a cover of cult guitarist John Martyn’s “Don’t Wanna Know ‘Bout Evil”), with plans for a full-length album that evolved into Beth’s SuperPinkyMandy. A limited release for the Japanese market, the album collects ten Orbit-influenced soundscapes, including the Spill single and the first version of Orton’s signature tune, “She Cries Your Name” (which would resurface in different form on Orbit’s Strange Cargo series). After Spill was spent, she continued working with Orbit, and added memorably to tracks by the Chemical Brothers and Red Snapper, undertakings that made her something of a traveling big beat/acid jazz diva.
In ’96 she slowed down her guest-spot rotations to put out the introductory She Cries Your Name EP (re-released the following year with different songs) and the remarkable Trailer Park. Despite the sun-drenched cover shot, this is music for cloudy days. A unifying tone — as strong as any concept album around — makes even pretty ear candy like “Don’t Need a Reason” and “Sugar Boy” sound as perfectly sad as the mandolin-trimmed “Whenever” and the simple retelling of the Ronettes’ “I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine.” For those in line for the trip-hop Beth’s known for, you’ll have some time to kill: producer/DJ Andrew Weatherall (Primal Scream, the Orb) steps in for three tracks of lingering beats (“Galaxy of Emptiness” being the best), but it’s delicate pop like “Someone’s Daughter” that fills the gaps. A new take on “She Cries Your Name” is the album’s apex, a faultless blend of acoustic picking, lush strings and Red Snapper’s Ali Friend on double bass.
From: https://trouserpress.com/reviews/beth-orton/