The English electronica/folk musician Beth Orton has just dropped a new track entitled “Fractals,” featuring jazz musician and poet Alabaster dePlume, drummer Tom Skinner, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and bassist Tom Herbert. The track comes off of Beth Orton’s upcoming album, Weather Alive due September 23 via Partisan Records.
This latest offering from Orton, like the rest of the upcoming project, takes inspiration from the late producers Hal Willner and Andrew Weatherall, both of whom passed away during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pitchfork quotes the English musician explaining that “The track is a beautiful example of the nature of collaboration, where people come in as they are… You’re hearing the first take. I would never have been able to conjure that music without these musicians.”
The combination of a catchy bass groove, a mellow piano chord progression, and a subdued but fast drum beat lay the basic canvas for the track, supporting Beth Orton’s reserved but passionate vocals. As the track goes on, we start to hear various elements introduce themselves in order to create more depth in the soundscape, including electronic effects and subtle saxophone playing sprinkled around. Listen to “Fractals” via YouTube below.
“Fractals” follows Orton’s previous offerings off of her new album “Forever Young” and “Friday Night.” These new singles follow long hiatus from Orton in terms of musical output, with Weather Alive following the musician’s previous album, 2016’s Kidsticks.
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