Central Reservation

Beth Orton’s second album, 1999’s *Central Reservation*, announced itself with a bigger, less subterranean production sound than her debut, *Trailer Park*. (The disc appeared on Orton’s new label, Arista, which had previously lifted Sarah McLachlan from alt-dance club voice to mainstream stardom.) Despite some apparently radio-ready changes, Orton still did it her way: The opening cut, “Stolen Car,” is driven by electric guitar, an instrument notable in its absence from the earlier record — but here it provides a rumbling drone rather than anything like pop ear candy. The electronic touches that marked Orton’s earlier work are muted, except on Ben Watt’s remix of the title track, but there’s little sense of compromise. The striking “Pass in Time,” for instance, runs more than seven minutes. And moments like “Devil Song” and “Feel to Believe,” with their bare-bones acoustic sound, are reminders of Orton’s folk roots. An outstanding album.

On her stunning sophomore album, Central Reservation, Beth Orton slips free of the electronic textures that colored her acclaimed 1996 debut, Trailer Park, stripping her music down to its raw essentials to produce a work of stark simplicity and rare poignancy.