Tickets on sale Friday 24 April, 10am.
For more than three decades, Beth Orton has remained one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music. Since her 1996 debut Trailer Park, she has built a catalogue marked by emotional clarity and constant evolution, from Comfort of Strangers to the spectral, self-produced Weather Alive. Released in 2022, Weather Alive became a major critical breakthrough, signaling not just a return but a reinvention. Her first self-produced album and debut for Partisan Records, it earned widespread acclaim, with The New York Times praising its “modal vocal phrases and marveling” storytelling, Pitchfork awarding Best New Music (8.7), and MOJO highlighting its richness and extraordinary writing.
Beth Orton’s new album The Ground Above, is out June 26th on Partisan Records. A testament to her artistry, the album The Ground Above is Orton’s most direct and unapologetic music to date; urgent, raw, embodied and emotionally fearless, moving between subconscious expression and expansive, timeless song craft. Her voice, as distinctive as ever, delivers melodies reminiscent of classic songbook form. Throughout the album, Orton documents survival and renewal, motherhood and identity, political unease, and the ongoing choice to stay – in love, in art, and in the world.
As with 2022’s critical breakthrough Weather Alive, Orton self-produced the album, staying true to the collective spirit of the initial live recordings whilst sculpting and expanding, over a year long process, the record we hear today. Working with trusted musicians including multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, Vernon Spring’s Sam Beste, drummers Chris Vatalaro (Antibalas, Radiohead), Vishal Nayak (Nick Hakim), Paul Butler (The Bees and Michael Kiwanuka), Trumpet player Christos Styliande, bassist Tom Herbert and Dave Okumu, Orton steps further into the role of producer and bandleader. The performances across the self-produced album are deeply responsive and instinct-led, often emerging from live interplay in the room rather than constructed distance. This approach gives the record a tangible physicality, as though the songs are being discovered in the moment they unfold.
The Ground Above is structured in two halves, with the first moving through more fragmented, searching terrain, and the second opening into warmer, more expansive melodic forms. Early songs such as “Before I Knew” explore questions of agency and survival, reflecting on how much of a life is shaped by choice versus necessity. “Cigarette Curls” featuring Nick Hakim draws on formative memory and friendship, capturing moments of cultural awakening and emotional intensity refracted through a present-day sonic lens. Later pieces such as “Celestial Light” and “I’ll Miss You” move toward acceptance and fragility, tracing the edges of loss, solitude and emotional endurance.
Alongside the album announcement, Orton has confirmed a 2026 UK and US headline tour marking her return to the stage following her last run in support of Weather Alive. The upcoming dates will see her perform eight shows across the UK.
With The Ground Above, Orton returns with renewed urgency and conviction.
