Beth Orton recently shared "The Ground Above," an eight-minute sprawl of dazzling art pop. Turns out that's the title track and opener to the UK singer-songwriter's upcoming album, set for release this June. Along with today's news comes another new single called "Waiting."
For the self-produced The Ground Above, Orton enlisted a whole crew of personnel including Nick Hakim, Tom Skinner, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, Vernon Spring’s Sam Beste, drummers Chris Vatalaro (Antibalas, Radiohead), Vishal Nayak (Nick Hakim), Paul Butler (The Bees and Michael Kiwanuka), trumpet player Christos Styliandes, bassist Tom Herbert, and guitarist Dave Okumu.
"Waiting" begins as a spare, lovelorn piano ballad: "I’ve been waiting for the hurting to stop/ I’ve been waiting for the punchline to drop," Orton sings in its opening lines before the track swells into a deceptively upbeat, jazzy cacophony. Listen to it below, where you'll also find the full The Ground Above tracklist as well as Orton's upcoming tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 "The Ground Above"
02 "Before I Knew"
03 "Cigarette Curls"
04 "Waiting"
05 "Celestial Light"
06 "I’ll Miss You"
07 "Love You Right"
08 "Otherside"
TOUR DATES:
09/15 - Washington, DC @ The Miracle Theatre
09/16 - Philadelphia, PA @ Baby Grand
09/18 - New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
09/19 - Somerville, MA @ Crystal Ballroom (Somerville Theatre)
09/20 - Turners Falls, MA @ Shea Theater
09/22 - Toronto, ON @ The Concert Hall
09/23 - Detroit, MI @ El Club
09/24 - Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk Music (Maurer Hall)
09/26 - Minneapolis, MN @ Parkway Theater
09/28 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
09/30 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
10/02 - Portland, OR @ The Old Church
10/03 - Seattle, WA @ Washington Hall
07/23-07/26 - Suffolk, UK @ Latitude Festival
10/12 - Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2
10/13 - Manchester, UK @ Stoller Hall
10/14 - Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms
10/16 - Leeds, UK @ Howard Assembly Room
10/17 - Glasgow, UK @ St. Luke’s
10/19 - Bristol, UK @ Trinity Centre
10/21 - Norwich, UK @ Arts Centre
10/22 - London, UK @ Alexandra Palace Theatre
The Ground Above is out 6/26 via Partisan.
