Beth Orton – Waiting
Beth Orton’s first album in four years arrives June 26 via Partisan Records. The Ground Above is her ninth LP and the follow-up to Weather Alive (2022), the self-produced record that earned her a Pitchfork Best New Music and reestablished her as one of the most singular voices in British songwriting. “Waiting” is the second single from the new album, following the title track released last month.
Like Weather Alive, The Ground Above is self-produced, recorded largely live in the room with a core group of collaborators: multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, Vernon Spring’s Sam Beste, drummers Chris Vatalaro (Antibalas, Radiohead), Vishal Nayak (Nick Hakim), and Paul Butler (The Bees, Michael Kiwanuka), plus trumpeter Christos Styliande, bassist Tom Herbert, Dave Okumu, and Tom Skinner of The Smile. Nick Hakim appears on “Cigarette Curls”. The album is structured in two halves: the opening section moves through fragmented, searching terrain; the second opens into warmer, more expansive melodic forms.
“Waiting” fits the second half’s logic. It builds slowly, carrying what Orton describes as “a celebration of moving out of the holding pattern fear keeps us in.” The flute and trumpet give it something breezy and unhurried, while the lyric does something harder: tracking the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and eventually collapsing that distance. Several sources hear Laura Nyro, Carole King, and Terry Callier in the arrangement. I’d add that the song earns its resolution honestly rather than reaching for it. There’s no forced uplift. It just turns a corner.
Orton recently played sold-out nights at St Pancras Old Church in London and appeared at the Barbican’s Marianne Faithfull tribute. A headline tour follows the June album release.
Tour Dates:
North America:
- 15 Sep – Washington DC, US – The Miracle Theatre
- 16 Sep – Philadelphia, US – Baby Grand
- 18 Sep – New York, US – Le Poisson Rouge
- 19 Sep – Somerville, US – Crystal Ballroom (Somerville Theatre)
- 20 Sep – Turners Falls, US – Shea Theater
- 22 Sep – Toronto, Canada – The Concert Hall
- 23 Sep – Detroit, US – El Club
- 24 Sep – Chicago, US – Old Town School of Folk Music (Maurer Hall)
- 26 Sep – Minneapolis, US – Parkway Theater
- 28 Sep – Los Angeles, US – Troubadour
- 30 Sep – San Francisco, US – Great American Music Hall
- 2 Oct – Portland, US – The Old Church
- 3 Oct – Seattle, US – Washington Hall
Europe:
- 12 Oct – Brighton, UK – Concorde 2
- 13 Oct – Manchester, UK – Stoller Hall
- 14 Oct – Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms
- 16 Oct – Leeds, UK – Howard Assembly Room
- 17 Oct – Glasgow, UK – St. Luke’s
- 19 Oct – Bristol, UK – Trinity Centre
- 21 Oct – Norwich, UK – Arts Centre
- 22 Oct – London, UK – Alexandra Palace Theatre
