Beth Orton has announced her new album ‘The Ground Above’, due 26th June via Partisan Records, alongside lead single ‘Waiting’.
The album is her first since ‘Weather Alive’ in 2022, a self-produced record that drew widespread critical praise for its collaboration with a group of jazz musicians including Tom Skinner, who also appears on the new record. New York artist Nick Hakim is among the other collaborators on ‘The Ground Above’, which Orton has again self-produced.
The album is structured in two halves. The opening section is described as searching and fragmented; the second half moves towards melody and resolution. It is a shape that suits Orton’s instincts as a songwriter: she has always worked best when the emotional logic of a record mirrors its musical arc, and ‘The Ground Above’ sounds designed with that in mind.
‘Waiting’, the lead single, arrives as a statement of intent. Orton has described it as “a celebration of moving out of the holding pattern fear keeps us in.” Her return to live performance earlier this year, including sold-out nights at St Pancras Old Church in London and an appearance at the Barbican’s Marianne Faithfull tribute, suggested an artist who has been building towards something.
The eight-track album lands in June, followed by a UK headline tour in October.
12 Oct – Concorde 2, Brighton
13 Oct – Stoller Hall, Manchester
14 Oct – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
16 Oct – Howard Assembly Room, Leeds
17 Oct – St. Luke’s, Glasgow
19 Oct – Trinity Centre, Bristol
21 Oct – Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich
22 Oct – Alexandra Palace Theatre, London
