Beth Orton - Sugaring Season (Deluxe Edition) '2012

Tracks list

Tracklist
---------
01. Magpie
02. Dawn Chorus
03. Candles
04. Something More Beautiful
05. Call Me the Breeze
06. Poison Tree
07. See Through Blue
08. Last Leaves of Autumn
09. State of Grace
10. Mystery
11. That Summer Feeling
12. I Wasnt Born To Follow
13. Goin Back

Beth Ortons first album in six years, Sugaring Season, was recorded in Portland,
Oregon with producer Martine Tucker. Orton also called upon a host of old
friends to contribute to the album, including keyboardist Rob Burger, bassist
Sebastian Steinberg, and legendary jazz drummer Brian Blade, along with
guitarists Marc Ribot and Ted Barnes and folksinger Sam Amidon. 

It’s been six years since Beth Orton’s last long-player, but
Sugaring Season has been well worth the wait. A sublime album of beautifully
crafted songs, it harks back to the core and substance of her big-selling debut
Trailer Park and that record’s cracking follow-up, Central Reservation.
But, rather than a regression in style, Sugaring Season introduces a fresh and
vital newness to Orton’s sound; rich in melodic know-how, with shimmering
orchestrations and delicately brittle vocals, it’s her most assured album
to date and one that benefits from the wealth of knowing maturity and experience
that Orton brings to this release. 

That’s not to say that Orton’s trademark air of vulnerability is
absent from Sugaring Season. It’s in plain sight from the outset, with
the repeated “Silence me and I won’t be here anymore” on
opener ‘Magpie’, to the assertion that “I just found another
way to cry” on ‘Candles’. But when her vocal comes in on
‘Something More Beautiful’ an intangible authority is evident; the
paper-thin delicacy still exists but here it is subordinate to an unfamiliar
note of confidence. That confidence is sensitively underscored by the
authoritative, pulsing drive of jazz legend Brian Blade’s drumming,
which, along with the piano and bass of Rob Burger and Sebastian Steinberg,
builds to an orchestral chorus of majestic sweep. But Orton’s nuanced
vocal always remains front and centre throughout the album, thanks to the
splendid production of Tucker Martine. 

Sugaring Season refers to the tapping of maple trees and the process of making
maple syrup – a major industry in Portland, Oregon, where the album was
recorded. It’s perhaps ironic, then, that the album is anything but sweet
and sticky. The world-weariness and raw emotion of the songs prevent any such
possibility, but Orton has been careful to ensure that nothing here is maudlin
or overly depressing – merely dipped in that toothsome melancholy that
she does so very well. The only song that threatens to break the mood is the
jaunty waltz, ‘See Through Blue’, but the restraint and
musicianship of the performers keeps it just on-side. Still, it makes one wonder
what a Beth Orton album of such songs would be like. 

As Orton’s career has progressed some have bemoaned the disappearance of
the electronic and trip-hop elements of her earlier work. Most of Sugaring
Season continues this progression, but in the light of the ’80s
videogame-like intro to ‘Candles’ perhaps this isn’t such a
bad thing after all. Always a difficult one to classify, Orton’s sound
has been, not un-humorously, labelled ‘folktronica’. Dropping the
second element of this contraction is appropriate, and her sound now is closer
to the ‘f’ word than ever before. Still, this artist has always
been a law unto her own impulses, and this latest record rewards them well.
Sublime in its yearning, raw-nerve atmosphere, Sugaring Season deserves to go
down as as a modern classic; we should all be looking six years ahead to 2018 if
that’s how long it takes for Beth Orton to produce another album of such
rare and beguiling beauty. (Adrian Balston)

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