Weather Alive – Beth Orton’s latest and arguably best album

Released earlier this month, Weather Alive is Beth Orton’s eighth studio album. It is the 51-year-old singer-songwriter’s first album since 2016.

Over the past twenty-five years, Beth Orton has written, performed and produced music that has defied being categorised into a single genre. She is a singer-songwriter and an accomplished guitarist, who has also contributed to the synths which have distinguished her folk songs. On Weather Alive it is her piano playing that sets the mood and melody lines. The piano Beth Orton plays on the album is an old piano she found and bought at London’s Camden Market.

Weather Alive is a departure from her earlier albums in a number of ways. She is the sole producer of this album and following the withdrawal of her recording company, also the album’s financier. Her sound has also moved further away from her electronic folk roots. It is perhaps closer to contemporary jazz, although the electronic elements remain ensuring that it is a blended sound justifying its Alternative Music categorisation. The Jazz influence, I suspect is in no small measure due to the Jazz drummer and sax player with whom she collaborated in turning her ideas into the songs on the album, and to the inclusion of brass instruments in the backing band. I sense that she may have found her sound.

On this album, Beth Orton’s voice is permitted to reveal imperfections suggesting the passing of time and perhaps the excesses of her younger self. The clear folk voice and the pop music voice sometimes reminiscent of Dido have been replaced by a moodier, more emotional voice that at times delivers sounds rather than lyrics. It is perfectly suited to the dreamy and repetitive instrumental sound of the songs, which is to be expected as it is her piano lines and the atmospheric and personal singing that set the tone of this album.

There is no doubt that the dark yet soothing reflection and memories dominate the melodies and structure of the songs on this album. Consequently, the songs do not have neat verses and choruses, which may disappoint some of her folk music fans. I, on the other hand, find this an album I happily play on repeat or become engrossed in when listening to it ‘centre stage’ on headphones. I’m convinced that it’s Beth Orton at her very best.