"Call me the fire/Call me the air," sings Beth Orton on her fifth LP. There is something elemental about Orton's folk soul; at its best, it sounds like the world's prettiest campfire music, all hickory smoke swirling into a starlit sky. But Orton is better when the music is less woodsy. The Gallic-flavored "See Through Blue" swaps the fingerpicked six-string for a piano plinking out a waltz, and the lyrics add bite: "Since breaking with you/Each day's divine."
Listen to "Something More Beautiful":
