Episode 320 - Beth Orton
7/4/202640 min
Singer-songwriter and producer Beth Orton joins Simon and Brian for a conversation about the writing of her latest record The Ground Above. Beth shares how she turns instinctive first ideas into finished songs, the independence that came with producing her own records, and the influence of two formative relationships: her early collaborations with William Orbit and her guitar lessons with Bert Jansch.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSimon· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hi, and welcome to Soda Jerker On Songwriting. This is Simon, here with Brian, and with us for our 320th edition is a Brit Award-winning and Mercury Prize-nominated English singer, songwriter, and musician.
Brian· Host0:30
Since her emergence in the mid-'90s, this doyenne of folktronica has released eight acclaimed albums and worked with the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Andrew Weatherall, William Orbit, Bert Jansch, Emmylou Harris, Terry Callier, and Johnny Marr.
Simon· Host0:42
As this episode lands in your feed, her latest studio offering, the self-produced The Ground Above, has just made its bow, and it's a typically beguiling and absorbing collection of songs. We're chuffed to welcome the excellent Beth Orton to the show.
Brian· Host0:55
Our guest was born in Dereham, Norfolk, in 1970. She grew up in nearby Norwich before moving with her mother and two older brothers to Dalston, East London, in her early teens. Though she had a musical side, she was initially more interested in acting, attending the Anna Scher Theatre School. Shortly after her mother's passing when Beth was just 19, she ventured further into that world, joining an experimental theater company with which she toured the UK and Russia. She also spent several months studying meditation in a Thai monastery and tried her hand at bullfighting in Spain.
Simon· Host1:23
Quite the period of self-discovery. [laughs] It was one of Beth's fellow thespians who invited her one evening to the party