British singer-songwriter Beth Orton has one of those voices so
hot-wired to her heart that she could jam with Mantovani and the result
would still be raw. On Daybreaker, Ben Watt of Everything but the Girl
piles on the orchestration, mixes fat stacks of swanky instrumental
harmony louder than her voice and studio-polishes the tracks until they
sparkle like the tinsel on a tree. But it all still sounds like an Orton
album, just as sure as a hangover is gonna give you a headache whether
it's Christmas morning or not. No more neo-this or folk-that. Orton
delivers some gooey pop complete with sticky tunes and honey-dipped ear
candy - yet it's heavy, disturbing, recondite. Whether she's harmonizing
with Emmylou Harris on the haunted "God Song" or bouncing on the
Chemical Brothers' digitized beats during the doom-y title cut, Orton
cries as if someone has left her cake out in the rain.
BARRY WALTERS
(RS # 901 - July 2, 2002)
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