What does it sound like?:
Not quite as the hype would suggest….
I really like Beth Orton, or did, eagerly snapping up the early records on arrival; is it really 20 years since Trailer Park “invented”, albeit with hindsight, it not called that then, Folktronica, the combination of an electronic music with keening damsel in distress vocalisations? I even saw her live then, supported, I recall, by Shack. I stayed with her for the next few discs, as she gradually dropped the electronica and found greater power and control in her wayward voice, adding jazzier hues. This record has been touted as a return to her starting blocks, so my hopes were high. Heck, even the reviews seemed good. So what’s my problem? Sadly she seems to have lost near all semblance of the organic heart that was the humanisation of her beats. Her voice sounds all wrong for a start, not like her, the frailty replaced by a glassy brittleness, and, call me old-fashioned, I do like a tune from time to time. Indeed, it is only the second to last track, ironically(?) entitled Flesh and Blood, that anything familiar in expectation raises it’s head, and it is a corker, as is the (very) brief instrumental track that follows it. Otherwise, nah. Rip those 2 and bin it.
What does it all *mean*?
Well it could just be I am not ready for this “bold reinvention”, or some other trite oversimplification that hides the opinion that she has run out of steam, hopefully only temporarily.
Goes well with…
Needing to save space on those sagging shelves.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Disappointment.
The picture? Copyright free choice inspired by Poohsticks in my search, the possibly original title meant for the album, until someone maybe suggested that may be too much of a target for spiteful reviewers.
Kidsticks is worrying enough – what does she do? Drop them in at one side and see which floats out the first at the other?
Cheers Retro – good to get reviews that aren’t always fulsome praise.
Your review echoes what I feel about this album Retro.
This will be the first album by Beth that I won`t be buying.
Ooh! Feisty.
Nope, not a bit like Lesley Feist.
Glad to have read this review as I heard one track on 6 Music which I thought sounded rather good. No doubt another of those ploys of playing the best track to reel the punters in. Her best recorded output is indeed Trailer Park and the ep out around the same that had her covering Fred Neil’s Dolphins.
Love Beth, thank lord someone else said out loud what I’ve been thinking – this is a stinker…
Never a fan , so maybe not right to comment but…
Heard her at Bluedot Festival on Saturday – oh dear, bit of a dirge – one tune rolling into the next, no real personality
I’ve been getting into this over the last few days and thought I could remember it being reviewed. It’s big thumbs-up from me. A little St Vincenty in places, and there’s even a touch of Portishead’s ‘Third’ about it — both good reference points for me — so overall I think the link-up with Andrew Hung of Fuck Buttons (producer) is a good thing.