This week English singer-songwriter Beth Orton announced a series of instore gigs in September to support the release of her forthcoming album, Weather Alive, due out September 23rd of this year on Partisan Records. You can pre-order the album here and tickets for the in-store shows are through the individual stores.
UK instores coming up in September pic.twitter.com/ztx5sAJy2F
— Beth Orton (@beth_orton) August 19, 2022
Along with the instore dates, the singer shared a video for her new single “Friday Night”. The song is the third single off her new album and follows “Forever Young” and the eponymous track “Weather Alive”.
NME reported Orton’s feeling about her new release: “Friday Night is someone reflecting on, and trying to decide, what to give up or what to surrender to. Passion or ambivalence? Whether to ‘bleed or rust in the rain’. Most of us are struggling to make sense of where to put the love we have for those that are lost to us, let alone the ones that remain. Sometimes there is no right answer except to find the wisdom in the spaces between the endings and beginnings, in the remembrance of things past or in search of lost time, there are always re-percussions to the choices we make.”
She continues: “We are listening to the internal dialogue of someone living it out, what is futile and what is worth fighting for, and trying to do as little damage along the way. Friday night being the night that makes the week more bearable, there is hope. Coming to realise what is real and what is out of reach can be unbelievably painful, waking up to the love that remains can be the greatest gift and the most wonderful surprise, Even in absence there is presence, there is no escape but to look for where the love is still alive within us.” You can watch the video below.
Her upcoming album features The Smile’s drummer Tom Skinner, Mancunian jazz star Alabaster dePlume, multi-instrumentalist/composed Shahzad Ismaily, and The Invisible’s bassist Tom Herbert. In a statement released to NME, the new record is described as “a record that collates memories and experiences spanning a lifetime, with stories that touch on struggles, on healing and of beauty.”
Orton became popular for her “folktronica” sound, which combines folk and electronica elements. In the middle of the 1990s, she first gained attention for her work with the Chemical Brothers, Red Snapper, Andrew Weatherall, William Orbit, and others. Her 1996 debut solo album, Trailer Park, was well-received by critics in the UK and US. Weather Alive is her eighth studio album.
Along with her in-store performances, Orton will be on a headline tour of the UK through 2022. Dates are below and tickets can be purchased here.
In-store appearances:
23/09/2022 – Rough Trade East – London
25/09 – Bear Tree – Sheffield
26/09 – Assai Records – Edinburgh
28/09 – HMV – Nottingham
29/09 – Truck Store – Oxford
Headline dates:
07/10 – Academy 2 – Birmingham
08/10 – St. Bartholomew’s Church – Brighton
09/10 – KOKO – London
10/10 – Arts Centre – Norwich
12/10 – St George’s –Bristol
13/10 – Classic Grand – Glasgow
15/10 – RCMN Concert Hall – Manchester
16/10 – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
