Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
As the lyric suggests, the weather is a state of mind, it is part of the system that governs, that nature decrees. The weather is not fixed, it is fluid, ever changeable, ever possessed by the spirit of generosity and malevolence that mirrors that of the human being it follows…it could be argued that the question is not of the natural world but that it is the Weather Alive, that is sensitive and alert to the needs below on Earth, and whether we have pushed it to its extremes by not caring enough for its welfare.
We can choose to live under siege as the thunder and lightning strike, or we can dance in the rain provided, the crash of darkening rumble adding a beat, the flash of momentary illumination behaving as if a thousand cameras are taking the one shot that will make your fortune, or which will see you run for shelter between each drop and growl from the heavens.
In her first album for six years, and Partisan Records debut, the glory that is Beth Orton returns to the front of the stage and shows that she has been far from spirited away from the storm, she has lived it, immersed herself into every puddle created, watched as rivers rose and fell, as the Weather Alive was sounded by bells of intrigue and delivery.
Do you bring the weather with you everywhere you go? Or are you wrapped in the blackness of the cloud above your head? The best response is to stand in its thrall and let it guide you, do what Beth Orton has proved can be achieved and let in drench you, let the electricity in the air make your hairs on the back of your neck stand up and be counted, for in her new album, that is exactly the drive and passion displayed, and one that is involved every step of the way.
Taking on the responsibility of engineering and producing your own artistic vision for the first time is a tall order to contemplate, but as tracks such as Friday Night, Fractals, Forever Young, the excellent Arms Around A Memory, and the album title track of Weather Alive attest, it was more than worth the experience, it was worth standing form in all that nature could throw at her.
Weather Alive, we must feel it from within as well as from around us, and Beth Orton’s precious sense of liberation and escape is fully explored, as well as the hurt, the missteps and the fears that make us feel aware of our tempests and commotions of life well lived.
Beth Orton returns, the storms battled and survived, and in clear skies she presents the prize of her endeavours, an album of soothing calm and peace.
Beth Orton’s Weather Alive is out now and available via Partisan Records.
Ian D. Hall