Comfort Of Strangers
Orton\'s fourth album gives her unique voice the showcase it deserves. Produced by cult musician Jim O\'Rourke, *Comfort of Strangers* is a supple sample of Americana (“Countenance”), jazz (“Worms”), classic 70s AOR (“Heartland Truckstop”) and pastoral chill (“Absinthe”). But the instrumentation is restrained and classy, letting Orton push her vocals into beguiling shapes: flinty and rough on “Worms”, soulful on “Feral Children”, and ragged on “Shopping Trolley”, where she lets us in more than ever before: “I think I\'m gonna cry, I\'m gonna laugh about it all in time,” she sings, with convincing wisdom.
After MOR disappointment Daybreaker, the English chanteuse teams with Jim O'Rourke on this mellifluously voiced collection of songs.
If only Beth Orton's new album had been released before Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine and after Cat Power's The Greatest, the continuum of strong-but-melancholy modern female songwriters would have remained perfectly linear. Comfort Of Strangers, delivered last in that sequence, makes perfect sense between…
After 2002's somber and overdone Daybreaker, it seemed possible that Beth Orton was losing the focus and freshness that made her so compelling on Trailer Park and Central Reservation.
<p><strong>Barney Hoskyns: </strong> Minimalist collection does pop's favourite chilled folkie few favours.</p>
Comfort of Strangers finds the incisive Orton paired with producer Jim O’Rourke to great effect.
You can't help but feel a bit for Beth Orton and the position she occupies in 2006.