Beth Orton could easily sound awful. Her genre-jumping mix of folk, electronica, jazz and more could fail on a number of levels, but it almost never does, allowing her to spin affecting, melancholy songs that rarely miss the mark. She first gained attention in the electronic sphere, collaborating with William Orbit and providing the vocals on the Chemical Brothers track \Alive: Alone."" She soon struck out on a solo career and gained heavy critical praise with her debut, Trailer Park, and the remarkably assured sophomore album, Central Reservation.
While her newest offering, Daybreak, doesn't quite measure up to the high standards of Central Reservation, it still is an outstanding album, full of downbeat lyrics and innovative instrumentation. In preparation for her concert on Sunday, Orton talked to the Cardinal about fascism, the Rolling Stones and the inanity of musical criticism.
The Daily Cardinal: You have a pretty substantial following in the United States and the United Kingdom. Do you notice any difference in the audiences?
Beth Orton: Not really, no. I try to look for the differences, because I get asked this question. Let me think about it. There's a difference between America and Europe, because I never think of Britain as being Europe. But Spain and Italy, they're mental, they're like, screaming and shit. I don't know, there's a difference in that, but there are differences throughout the whole wide world. I mean, everyone's really enthusiastic and there's lots of all that stuff that's all that clich?? of being very passionate.
DC: On the new album, there's a collaboration with Ryan Adams. How did that come about?
BO: Well, I loved Heartbreaker, I thought it was an amazing record. I was looking for someone to do backup vocals on ""Concrete Sky"" and a guy at my record label said, ""Why don't we call Ryan Adams, see if he's up for it."" I thought ""OK,"" so we called up and it turned he was a fan of me as much as I was a fan of him. So he came over to London and we went in the studio. That was all I pretty much intended to do, is get him to do backing vocals, and then he played me a song he wanted me to sing, and I sang that, and then he put the reprise on the end of ""God Song,"" and before you know it he's on three tracks.
DC: I've heard a version of you two covering the Rolling Stones' ""Brown Sugar."" Will that ever be released on anything?
BO: No.
DC: On the song ""Concrete Sky"" in particular and the album as a whole, there's a lot of references to the sky. Is this intentional?
BO: It's one of those things that I sort of noticed along the way, so it's not very intentional.
DC: What do you think that means?
BO: I think I look at the sky a lot. I like to write, high-up. I guess I just like the sky, I don't know. It must be an inspiration to me.
DC: Could you explain how you first came to develop your sound folk/electronic sound, early on?
BO: Basically, I was working with Willliam Orbit and he was doing electronic dance music, pop music. So I was working for him and was starting to write songs on guitar, and it just became a natural sort of integration between the two. And when I made my record, I just took it a step further, in the direction that I wanted to take it, which was sort of away from pop. I picked the band I wanted, I love the musicians and I picked them from very different places.
Growing up in Britain, there's a hell of a lot of snobbery. In music, you were either a punk or a mod, or whatever it was. And if you liked one style of music, you weren't allowed to like another. And I suppose when I came to music, it fascinated me to take different worlds and merge them. Especially the complete lack of cool that is folk, with the total cool that is dance or electronic music. You know what I mean? I was just sort of into that idea. I love the sort of music that is about freedom of expression. It's anti-fascism, but there seems to be a sort of fascism in music that I was never really into.
DC: What do you think it says about Britain that someone like you has developed a strong following then?
BO: Now, I'd say I'm really excited about where it is. Now there seems to be a lot more freedom about doing whatever the fuck you want. I'm saying, more like 15 years ago, or more, maybe 20 years ago, it was a little more defined. And even five years ago, it was more defined. Now, it seems to be more like 'anything goes,' as long as it has a certain integrity. I hope that's what's happening to music, which could be a flip-side to all this pop idol thing.
DC: I think in a lot of ways, Daybreaker may be the most melancholy album you've ever released.
BO: What makes you think it's the most melancholy?
DC: It's just a feel I get. The tone of the album is just very downbeat, I think.
BO: That's funny, because the person I talked to just before you said it was the most upbeat of my albums.
DC: Well, there's musical criticism for you right there.
BO: I know, isn't it genius? I don't know, really. I find it as hard to comment on him saying it's upbeat as you saying it's miserable.
DC: Not miserable, by any stretch, but definitely melancholy.
BO: Yeah, I think I make melancholy music in general, and write melancholy songs and choose melancholy musicians. I like melancholy, I think there's a beauty in it. It's not depression, it's just that life is bittersweet, and I like music that can evoke that.
