This is on-the-couch, under-a-blanket-with-kitty-and-magazine music. It’s the kind of music that you sing along with while doing other things. You don’t even realize you’re singing along, because it’s so familiar. Beth Orton’s ‘Sugaring Season’ is her first record in six years. Her old label dropped her, she had kids and now finally, she’s recording again. The record almost serves as a type of analog antidote to all things digital and over-produced. All the tracks are 3-4 minutes; it’s 10 songs simple. It’s quiet and incredibly easy to listen to. Her voice is lush and the arrangements are rich and layered, but no more blips and William Orbit bleeps. Just some pretty straight forward music. Emphasis on the ‘pretty’. Some tracks are even elegantly theatrical. ‘See Through Blue’ is like a broadway waltz throw-back to a simpler time. How appropriate that her new label is ‘Anti-Records’.

This is the first record I’ve bought in a long time that makes me want to go out and get it on vinyl. Maybe that will be an early Christmas gift to myself. One thing that would make ‘Sugaring Season’ even better is the addition of a few pops and hisses.

Some of my favorite tracks are ‘Magpie’, ‘Poison Tree’, and ‘See Through Blue’.

[***] out of [****]

‘Magpie’:

‘Poison Tree’:

‘See Through Blue’:

Buy it on mp3 or vinyl: