Weather Alive
“Through the writing of these songs and the making of this music, I found my way back to the world around me – a way to reach nature and the people I love and care about. This record is a sensory exploration that allowed for a connection to a consciousness that I was searching for. Through the resonance of sound and a beaten up old piano I bought in Camden Market while living in a city I had no intention of staying in, I found acceptance and a way of healing.” - Beth Orton Many musicians turn inward when the world around them seems chaotic and unreliable. Reframing one’s perception of self can often reveal new personal truths both uncomfortable and profound, and for Beth Orton, music re-emerged in the past several years as a tethering force even when her own life felt more tumultuous than ever. Indeed, the foundations of the songs on Orton’s stunning new album, Weather Alive, are nothing more than her voice and a “cheap, crappy” upright piano installed in a shed in her garden, conjuring a deeply meditative atmosphere that remains long after the final note has evaporated. “I am known as a collaborator and I’m very good at it. I’m very open to it. Sometimes, I’ve been obscured by it,” says Orton, who rose to prominence through ‘90s-era collaborations with William Orbit, Red Snapper and The Chemical Brothers before striking out on her own with a series of acclaimed, award-winning solo releases. “I think what’s happened with this record is that through being cornered by life, I got to reveal myself to myself and to collaborate with myself, actually.” Weather Alive - Beth Orton's first album in six years - is out 23rd September on Partisan Records"
The eighth album from the English songwriter is the best work of her career. Soothing, immersive, and self-produced, it conjures a dreamlike atmosphere with songs that spiral out into the ether.
Alternating between mystifying poetry and confessional dialogue, Beth Orton's breathtaking return with Weather Alive is not only her strongest to date but also a definitive artistic statement
After overcoming multiple setbacks, Beth Orton delivers her most emotionally gripping album yet
After drifting away from her pioneering fusion of trip-hop and folk with diversions into jazz-tinged, acoustic alt-folk, Beth Orton's sixth solo album, 2016's Kidsticks, found her broadly re-embracing electronics.
Beth Orton has led a singular career. An artist who has skirted on the fringes of the mainstream – let’s not forget how big 1996’s ‘Trailer Park’ and
Having only put out five albums in the past two decades, Beth Orton's Weather Alive embraces her electro-folk past while embracing a weathered, gorgeous future.
The folktronica singer's voice is battered but lovely, Blount bridges bluegrass and Black southern folk, Sports Team get lost in translation
Cracked introspection and grand sweep sonics on a record of memory regained. New msuic review by Joe Muggs