Daybreaker

iTunes Review

Beth Orton will probably never deliver an album’s worth of feel-good tunes — even her most upbeat songs carry a bittersweet undertaste. This holds true for 2002’s Daybreaker, an engaging if generally melancholy exploration of the British singer/songwriter’s inner landscape. The album’s mix of bluesy folk, pulsing electronica and drifty, Van Morrison-like jazz gets added emphasis from sweeping string backdrops (“Paris Train”) and soulful horn arrangements (“Anywhere”). But the real attraction here is Orton’s voice, an uncommonly expressive instrument filled with sharp creases, crooked seams and ragged edges. She applies it with haunting effect to brooding numbers like “Mount Washington” and “This One’s Gonna Bruise,” as well as more buoyant tunes like “Carmella” and “Concrete Sky.” Dark shadows lit by flashes of hope dominate the cabaret-like “Ted’s Waltz” and the techno-styled title number. Ryan Adams lends some rootsy guitar to several tracks, while Emmylou Harris blends her inimitable vocals with Beth’s on the poignant “God Song.” Orton is an artist who works most brilliantly in sad charcoal shadings and somber watercolor tones.