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''Weather Alive'' is the eighth studio album by English singer-songwriter
Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician, known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall, ...
. The album was released on 23 September 2022 by
Partisan Records Partisan Records is an independent record label with offices in London and Los Angeles, as well as in New York City, where the company was co-founded in 2007 by Tim Putnam and Ian Wheeler. The label, initially run out of Putnam’s South Brooklyn ...
.


Background

Orton began work on ''Weather Alive'' after buying a used upright piano from a dealer at Camden Market in London for ₤300 (US$350) and creating songs by playing notes around the instrument. In an interview with ''
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'', Orton said of that creation process: "No matter where you touch
he piano He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
it just has these resonances ..Little ghosts of other chords just keep ringing out and you're like, "Oh, that speaks of another melody, and that speaks of another feeling." In a press release following the album's announcement on 31 May 2022, Orton described the album as "a sensory exploration that allowed for a connection to a consciousness that I was searching for."


Singles

The album's title track was released as the first single on 31 May 2022. Reviewing for ''
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'', Sam Sodomsky described Orton's vocal performance as "broken and determined, cresting in a chorus that flows with the emotional cadence of an old soul song."


Critical reception

Upon release, ''Weather Alive'' received acclaim from critics. At
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream publications, the album has a score of 85, based on twelve reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". In the review for ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'', Evan Sawdey wrote that the album "unabashedly feels like the record rtonneeded to make now, and we all feel more Alive because of it." Sam Sodomsky of ''
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'' called it "the best work" of Orton's career, describing it as "soothing, immersive, and self-produced, it conjures a dreamlike atmosphere with songs that spiral out into the ether". Reviewing the album for ''
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'', Neil McCrommik stated that, "Orton digs so deeply into her own personal spaces and memories that what she finds there is unique. Middle-aged discontent has rarely sounded so lovely." Describing the album in a review for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, Marcy Donelson declared that, "''Weather Alive'' nestles into a comparatively hushed, atmospheric blend of acoustic and electronic timbres that's meticulous and nebulous at once." The reception for the album was more muted in a review for ''
MusicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
'', where writer Ben Devlin claimed that some of the "arrangements can feel a little staid" but that overall they don't "keep ''Weather Alive'' from being an engrossing listen especially as Orton dominates the proceedings so expertly."


Track listing


Personnel

Credits for ''Weather Alive'' adapted from Tidal. *
Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician, known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall, ...
– primary artist, composer, production, engineering * Greg Calbi – mastering * Craig Silvey – mixing * Dani Bennett-Spragg – mixing engineering * Fabio Senna – engineering * Francine Perry – engineering * Eliot Lee Hazel – creative director, artwork * Aaron Mitchell – packaging design


Charts


References

{{Beth Orton 2022 albums Beth Orton albums Partisan Records albums