British singer/songwriter Beth Orton’s earliest work was getting a lot of airplay when I first started paying attention to public radio music in the ’90s. Her early hit, She Cries Your Name, was featured often on World Café and Open Air. I still think of it as my “gateway song” to the left end of the dial.
Fast forward 30 years, and Beth Orton just released her eighth album, The Ground Above. Never an artist to be confined by a single genre, Orton has continually reinvented her sound, moving from the folktronica of her '90s recordings to the intimate folk of Sugaring Season and the adventurous pop-electronica of Kidsticks. In 2022, she began fully producing her own music with The Weather Alive, using an old upright piano to compose while her kids were in school. On The Ground Above, she’s producing again, and still playing that upright piano.
Like much of Orton’s work, the new release leans toward the melancholy, its songs shaped by her self-reflection. They unfold almost like meditations. It’s like you’re with her, exploring her inner-thoughts as they reveal themselves over the slow-developing instrumental backdrops. There are no big hooks, no repetitive riffs, no driving beats. Her secret weapon is her ability to create shadowy soundscapes that take the patient listener on an immersive journey. It's the kind of music I like to call "wait for it" music.
The Ground Above opens with its eight-minute title track. Songs of that length can sometimes meander, wandering into repetition or self-indulgent detours. But Orton's gift for arrangement keeps the music engaging, making its running time feel entirely earned. As The Ground Above unfolds, it steadily adds new instruments and textures, evolving from a sparse, intimate opening into a rich full-band sound accented by horns and subtle but effective electronic elements. Its shifting dynamics give the song a natural sense of momentum, a compositional approach that's present throughout the rest of the album.
Beth Orton with the new track Cigarette Curls ...
One of her early hits - Stolen Car, featuring Ben Harper on guitar ...
A live version of She Cries Your Name ...
On the radio, we’ll be spinning individual tracks, but The Ground Above in its entirety is the perfect soundtrack for a slow morning, or a lazy afternoon around the house. We’ll be exploring it throughout the Summer on Open Air – weekdays 9am-3pm on JPR's Rhythm and News Service.
