Album Review: Beth Orton - Sugaring Season

Listen up, Laura Marling: you may have enjoyed six years without a folk songstress coming near your quality, but Beth Orton is back, so make friends and play nice. Sugaring Season has been labelled a “departure” from Orton's typical sound because it's not electric. However, the difference won't incite a Dylan-style revolt from fans; in fact it's barely perceptible. She has always led with her distinct timbre, and the layered instrumentation and vocal multi-tracking make it unmistakably Orton from the first note.

Swaying gently from the pleasantly soporific lullaby Something More Beautiful to Call Me The Breeze, a song soon to be appearing on a car ad with open windows and sepia-tinged countryside, there are no bumps, jolts or jarring on this album. That's not to say there's no texture, or that it's boring; quite the opposite. Orton's subtlety in instrument choice, production effects and even song placement make for an album you can listen to several times through, discovering new gems each time.

Vocally, Orton tends to stay in her upper register for most of the album, but male backing vocals provide some counterbalance on Poison Tree. The gypsy waltz of See Through Blue lightens the mood midway, but for the most part this is a stripped-back, wistful release. The fingerprints of producer Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, Spoon) are all over this release, happily so. He deftly elucidates the intricacies of Orton's emotions.

If you like Claire Bowditch, Sarah Blasko, Julia Stone or Jen Cloher, take a listen to Sugaring Season and discover the songstress they all took their lead from. Welcome back Ms Orton, we've missed you.