Beth Orton strips back thirty years of atmospheric folk-electronica and comes out swinging. The Ground Above trades the gauze and reverb of her earlier work for something closer to the bone. Her voice moves from near-whisper to full-throated release, often within the same track, and the arrangements give her room to do it. Shahzad Ismaily's multi-instrumental work and drummers Chris Vatalaro and Vishal Nayak anchor the songs without smothering them.
Orton self-produced again, building on live takes recorded with her band and shaping them over a year. The result feels immediate but not rushed. Trumpet appears on some tracks, bass sits low in the mix, and the whole thing sounds like people in a room rather than a studio confection. Lyrically she circles motherhood, survival, political anxiety, the decision to stay present when everything pulls you elsewhere.
This will suit listeners who found Weather Alive too spare or who gave up on Orton years ago and assumed she was still making trip hop adjacent bedroom records. It is not that. It is direct, occasionally uncomfortable, and more rock-leaning than anything she has done.
