''Sugaring Season'' is 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, ...

's fifth studio album, her first new work for six years. It was recorded in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

at the studio of producer

Tucker Martine Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade. Early life Tucker Martine, the son of singer and son ...

. It is her first release for the

ANTI- Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop (Sage Francis, The Cou ...

record label with whom she signed in 2010. In 2014 it was awarded a silver certification from the

Independent Music Companies Association The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda a ...

, which indicated sales of at least 20,000 copies throughout Europe.

Critical reviews

Review aggregation website

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 ...

assigned ''Sugaring Season'' a score of 76 based on twenty-eight reviews, denoting "generally favorable reviews". Thom Jurek of

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 ...

gave the album four stars out of five and called it "sophisticated, mature, and rife with quiet passion", and said "its songs are informed by the struggles inherent in everyday life, but also account for dreams, small triumphs, and the redemptive power of love".

Track listing

All songs were composed by Beth Orton except where noted: #"Magpie" – 4:32 #"Dawn Chorus" – 3:24 #"Candles" – 3:45 #"Something More Beautiful" (Orton,

M. Ward Matthew Stephen Ward (born October 4, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Portland, Oregon. Ward's solo work is a mixture of folk and blues-inspired Americana analog recordings; he has released ten studio albums since 19 ...

) – 3:28 #"Call Me the Breeze" (Orton,

Tom Rowlands The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre t ...

) – 3:52 #" Poison Tree" (lyrics partially by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

) – 4:06 #"See Through Blue" (Orton, Clemence Des Rochers, Pierre Brault) – 1:54 #"Last Leaves of Autumn" – 4:01 #"State of Grace" – 4:15 #"Mystery" – 4:08 ;Deluxe Edition bonus tracks #

"That Summer Feeling" (

Jonathan Richman Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic a ...

) – 4:37 #" I Wasn't Born to Follow" (

Byrds The Byrds () were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining th ...

) – 3:59 #"Goin' Back" (

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

) – 4:02

Personnel

* Beth Orton – vocals, guitar * Rob Burger – piano, harmonium, electric piano, accordion *

Brian Blade Brian Blade (born July 25, 1970) is an American jazz drummer, composer, session musician, and singer-songwriter. Early life Blade was born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana. The first music he experienced was gospel and songs of praise at ...

– drums, percussions * Clarice Jensen – cello * Ted Barnes – guitar, banjo *

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Wait ...

– guitar *

Carl Broemel Carl Broemel (born January 30, 1974) is an American rock musician. He currently plays guitar, pedal steel guitar, saxophone and sings back-up vocals for the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket. He played guitar in the pop/rock band Old Pik ...

– guitar *

Sam Amidon Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Musical career In 2001, Amidon self-released ''Solo Fiddle'', an album of traditional Irish fiddle instrumentals. Amidon's first album of ...

– guitar, organ, violin, backing vocals *

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has worked extensively with ...

– viola *

Nadia Sirota Nadia Sirota (born in New York) is an American viola player. Her father is Robert Sirota, a composer and conductor. Life and career Sirota is best known for her singular sound and expressive execution, coaxing solo works from the likes of Nic ...

– viola * Ben Russell – violin *

– percussions *

Sebastian Steinberg Sebastian Steinberg (born February 20, 1959) is an American bass player, best known for his work in the band Soul Coughing. Biography Steinberg played with Soul Coughing throughout the band's entire history, from 1992 to 2000. In 2001, Steinberg ...

– bass *

Nate Query Nate Query (born September 5, 1973) is an American musician best known as the bassist of the Portland, Oregon indie rock band The Decemberists. He plays electric bass, upright bass, banjo and cello. He makes appearances on many albums by Portland ...

– bass *

Laura Veirs Laura Pauline Veirs (born October 24, 1973) is an American singer-songwriter based out of Portland, Oregon. She is known for her folk/alternative country records and live performances as well as her collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang on ...

– backing vocals

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2012 albums Beth Orton albums Anti- (record label) albums Albums produced by Tucker Martine