Sugaring Season

What is known as the Sugaring Season runs in the US state of Vermont from around March to mid-April. It is when producers all around the state collect maple sap and boil it down to the sweet sticky syrup. It is the same maple trees that lead to that stunning sweep of colour in the vibrant fall foliage. Beth Orton's new album seems to combines both events. It is very much a hymn to Autumnal and pastoral moods but combined with a lovely bruised fragility which makes this album such a real treat.

Gone is all the shimmering electronica and digital files of the dallainces with Andy Weatherall or the Chemical Brothers, indeed the template is much more in tune with her frequent collaborations with Ryan Adams. Following a lengthy hiatus to bring up her daughter this is her first album in six years that firmly sticks to the acoustic knitting and is all the better for it. In that time she built up a considerable backlog of songs and in the selections here has largely chosen wisely. Opener "Magpie" has a bluesy tint to the essential folk based melancholy. It builds to a big finish as Orton's vocals stretch and the intensity ratchets up. More gentle are the following tracks, the lifting pop of "Dawn chorus" and the almost Nick Drake sounding guitar backdrop to "Candles" where Orton's haunting vocals are at their very best. The slow piano ballad laden with violins "Something more beautiful" is an undoubted highlight and will replay repeated listens. One sour note comes in the form of the Weimar cabaret of "See Through Blue" where she tries to adopt a Dietrich style loftiness but it all feels rather contrived and breaks the flow of the album. Still it comes in under two minutes and is followed by "Last leaves of Autumn" which is one of the best things Beth Orton has ever done.Read more ›

Anyway I am a massive Beth Orton fan... but this is a step away from her usual dancey spin offs... this is mature, sweet, haunting and best listened to at night when you want to chill... My boyfriend is a die-hard reggae fan and even he fell in love with Beth.

It's not her most accessible album but it is a jump from her previous stark 'Comfort of Strangers' (also amazing) and after a few listens I started to navigate the album. It's a whole album experience rather than a singles machine. Beth's voice is just soooo beautiful!!!!! Can't wait to see her live!!!

I must admit to being a big fan of Beth Orton, having seen her live many times and bought and listened to all her previous albums. Objectively, it has been hard to compare albums to her first, Trailer Park being such a classic for me, but this new album definitely stands apart, fantastic songwriting allayed to some super sonics, at least on the first half of the album, it drifts a little in the second half but I am excited about hearing these songs live.

If you have never heard Beth Orton before, this is a fine place to start, if you have and didn't see what the fuss was about, this may not change your mind on first listen but stick with it, there is real beauty to be found.

Here is hoping this is the start of a more prolific period... I can't wait another 6 years!!!

It's great that Beth is back in circulation again with a good album and I'm looking forward to seeing her in concert but Amazon screwed up on the description. When I pre-ordered the album about a month before its release, Amazon's website was showing 13 tracks on the CD and only 10 tracks on the MP3. I thought it a bit strange but I was a bit pissed off but not totally surprised when it turned out the other way round and no apologies from Amazon regarding their mistake. If they had got it correct at the beginning I would have ordered the MP3 version instead

The last three tracks listed in the product information are not actually on this cd - they are bonus tracks on the deluxe MP3 edition and Amazon have mistakenly said that you can get them on this cd too. Just so you know...

I've been a fan of Beth Orton from the early days, and have followed her career with great interest. I will admit that I was let down by her most recent album, 2006's "Comfort of Strangers", as it seemed Orton wasn't quite sure how to evolve from "folktronica" yet remain true. After a long 6 year wait, we finally get the newest album (released Cot, 2012).

"Sugaring Season" (10 tracks; 37 min.) kicks off with the most 'urgent' track on here, an almost epic "Magpie", which is the only track that features the backing band in full force. When tracks 2 "Dawn Chorus" and "Mystery" gently roll in, it is clear that indeed the days of "folktronica" are gone for good. But as the tracks go on by, what stuck me is that the album sounds deceptively simple, yet in the end plain gorgeous. Check out "Something More Beautiful" (co-written with M. Ward), which reminds me of the sound from Over the Rhine. My favorite track on the album is "Poison Tree", which kicks off the second half of the album, and it's like Joni Mitchell from 40 years ago. Track 9 "State of Grace" is in the same Joni-vein, just great. As "Last Leaves of Autumn" opens with Beth on pion, my first thought was "Nataie Merchant", and I mean that as a compliment as well.

At just 37 min., this album clips by in no time, and I have been playing this a LOT. I had the good fortune of catching Beth Orton live at the U Street Music Hall in Washington, DC last May, when she was 'road-testing' material from this album (playing Poison Tree, Candles, and Mystery), but also bringing many nuggets from the past (including a bunch from "Central Reservation" and "Trailer Park" such as Stolen Car, Sugar Boy, etc. etc.). What a great performance that was. Meanwhile "Sugaring Season" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!