Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers (2006)

In the beginning I was really happy with Spotify's 'Discover Weekly' playlists. They were suggesting artists and bands to me that I had not heard of before and I frequently found something interested on those lists. More recently I think the quality has either gotten worse, or they merely had a limited number of suggestions for my musical taste. Anyway, I feel like I don't find many new things on those lists anymore. I did, however, find Beth Orton through those lists and I'm happy I did. I ended up buying pretty much all of her albums because they were so cheap to buy online. Comfort of Strangers is one of the strongest albums by Orton. Especially the first half of the album is really good. It's easygoing alternative folk that has some modern sounds but classic Americana folk songwriting.



Comfort of Strangers reminds me of many other singer-songwriter women from the 90's and 00's. There are similarities to artists such as Regina Spektor, Aimee Mann and Fiona Apple. Orton plays music that is quite ageless, since its roots are in 1960's Americana folk, while the sounds are very carefully produced, which makes it also sound quite modern. Orton is perhaps not the most innovative musician out there, but she makes pleasant music that seems to come straight from the heart and usually that's what matters to me.

The album starts with a beautiful bluesy indie tune Worms. This song particularly reminds me of Regina Spektor's piano-led sound. There's a great catchy melancholic melody in this song. It is followed by a much more traditional folk song Countenance, which portrays Orton's excellent guitar picking and flexible vocals. Heartland Truckstop has some old-school sounds and the groove sounds like it could be from a Joni Mitchell album from the 70's. Rectify sounds like a modern indie folk song with rolling rhythm and soulful singing. There is some special skill in changing the rhythm between the verse and chorus. The title-track Comfort of Strangers is a soulful ballad in the style of Norah Jones. The vocals are particularly smooth in this song. Conceived has some bass-led groove that reminds me of some early Eels. I particularly like how the strings lead into the catchy chorus changing the intensity of the song. They also use a marxophone in this song. Absinthe is another classic folk song with nice piano and harmonica. A Place Aside is a folk ballad that sounds a bit like Ryan Adams' songs. Safe in Your Arms is probably the best song on the second half of the album. The melancholic melody is very beautiful and there's some great use of accordion in the song. Shopping Trolley cranks the tempo up a bit and as a result, this song is closer to indie rock singer-songwriters than folk-rockers. Feral Children shows some of the best vocals on the album in a beautiful piano ballad. The album ends with a quiet and slightly jazzy song Pieces of Sky that almost seems to fade out the album.

The only music video I could find from this album is the music video for Shopping Trolley, the most upbeat song on the album. It starts with Beth Orton leaving her home with happy strides. For some reason all the furniture from her flat start following her around and finally Orton ends up wrestling her chair on a flower meadow. It's a nice little video.

Beth Orton is a very versatile musician making very different sounding songs, which makes it difficult to define her as an artist. She is not necessarily the most exciting singer-songwriter out there, but I genuinely like many of her songs and therefore I'm happy to own her albums.

Listen to the album on Spotify.