Beth Orton - 'The Other Side Of Daybreak' (Heavenly)
3/5
By: Joshua K
If ever there was a musical genre that deserves to be un-created, it's 'folktronica'. After all, would you want your music plopped in a category that conjures the image of aging crusties warbling over a breakbeat? Not if you're the supposed scene's only talented practitioner... comfortable with an acoustic, but also muse to visionary dance producers The Chemical Brothers and William Orbit.
Which brings us to the release at-hand: Beth Orton's companion to her 'Daybreaker' LP, comprising covers, live takes, new tracks and dance remixes. That rare 'odds-n-sods' project that works far better than it should, by actually feeling consistent (aka album-like).
Proceedings begin strongly, with a stripped-down cover of Five Stairsteps' 1970s classic 'Ooh Child', a sparse arrangement that reveals all that's special about Orton's soulful, penetrating voice. And this quality-level rarely falters, thanks to other standouts including gorgeous new ballad 'Ali's Waltz' and Four Tet remixes of 'Daybreaker' tracks 'Carmella' and 'Daybreaker'.
Amazingly, 'Carmella' clocks in at a handclap-laden 11+ minutes while feeling only a quarter that, which raises the question, 'Does everything Kieran Hebden touch turn to gold?' The 'downside' to this rhetorical question being his mesmerizing 'Daybreaker' mix - which reveals just how uninteresting the album's second take on the track, the penultimate Roots Manuva rap version, really is. But all is then made right with the closing 'Anywhere', as soaringly retouched by Two Lone Swordsmen, Weatherall and Tenniswood.
So, both guitar and chillout fans will be pleased. Which is a testament to the mixer, yes, but equally if not more to the source material.
Artists in this article: Beth Orton
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