Weather Alive
2022 studio album by Beth Orton
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Weather Alive is the eighth studio album by English singer-songwriter Beth Orton. The album was released on 23 September 2022 by Partisan Records.
| Weather Alive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 23 September 2022 | |||
| Length | 45:43 | |||
| Label | Partisan | |||
| Producer | Beth Orton | |||
| Beth Orton chronology | ||||
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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 The New York Times, Orton said of that creation process: "No matter where you touch [the piano], 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."[1] 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."[2]
Singles
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 85/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| musicOMH |  [6] |
| Pitchfork | 8.7/10[7] |
| PopMatters | 8/10[8] |
| The Telegraph | [9] |
Upon release, Weather Alive received acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, 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".[4]
In the review for PopMatters, Evan Sawdey wrote that the album "unabashedly feels like the record [Orton] needed to make now, and we all feel more Alive because of it."[8] Sam Sodomsky of Pitchfork 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".[7] Reviewing the album for The Telegraph, 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."[9]
Describing the album in a review for AllMusic, 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, 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."[6]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Beth Orton.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Weather Alive" | 7:05 |
| 2. | "Friday Night" | 5:34 |
| 3. | "Fractals" | 5:20 |
| 4. | "Haunted Satellite" | 4:37 |
| 5. | "Forever Young" | 5:40 |
| 6. | "Lonely" | 4:24 |
| 7. | "Arms Around a Memory" | 5:44 |
| 8. | "Unwritten" | 7:19 |
| Total length: | 45:43 | |
Personnel
Credits for Weather Alive adapted from Tidal.[10]
- Beth Orton – 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