Beth-lehem

ROCKRGRL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1998

Singer/songwriter Beth Orton has everything going for her. After contributing vocals to Dig Your Hole, the breakthrough release by harbingers of electronica revolution, The Chemical Brothers, Orton is now blazing trails of her own. Her debut CD, Trailer Park, recently released in the US by a UK label (Heavenly Records), has instantly garnered rave reviews and critical accolades makina Orton an official "buzz" artist In this a e the acclaim is well deserved. Trailer Park is a brilliant collection of lushly arranged songs, haunting melodies and Orton's trademark Dusty Springfield-meets-Bobbie Gentry vocal delivery.

Although she has written since childhood, Orton did not originally set out to be a songwriter. It wasn't until producer William Orbit happened to see her acting in a play several years ago, liked her voice and asked Orton to read for him that she began to take songwriting seriously. But despite the heavy credentials of those she has worked with, Orton of any Svengali's mentoring. Her songs are prolific and indeed, her own.

On the phone fiom England recently, Orton graciously took a break from recording to talk about some of the challenges she faced as a developing artist.

What inspires you to write?

Everything inspires me to write. Every day inspires me. I can't walk down the street without being inspired by something. I think that everything in general is quite mad-people, situations, books I read, films I see, anything. I'm even inspired by fruit and vegetables in the store.

How do you put your songs together with the band? Do you do the arranging as well?

I write the songs and then take them to the band and then just sort of build music around them. Everyone plays around them and we just construct and deconstruct and then reconstruct.

And is there any length of time they usually take, or they just each other take their own amount of time?

We did one the other day from scratch. This is the first time the band's really created something together and it took us five minutes. It’s an organic process. We take that and then we go and tour it for a month and play it live and then come back and play it and then record it So it's constantly growing.

How did you come to work with the Chemical Brothers?

I just know them from being around clubs. They knew that I sang and they asked if I wanted to hear this song they were doing and if I wanted to do a vocal on it and I said yes.

Is it a lot different doing your own thing from working with the Chemical Brothers?

I don't know about them. If s all just forms of expression, really.

Do you feel there were expectations that your solo project would be electronica?

People did have those expectations, yeah. I knew they did. But it didn't really affect me.

Is there a switch for you between doing electronica and doing more pared down folk?

I just think what I do is what I do. I don't class it in any way whatever. The backing, whatever surrounds the song, ifs still the song ultimately The inspiration can come from being out all night dancing away or it can come from walking in the field or it can corm from. walking through the market~ you know? It can come from anything.

Let's talk about Trailer Park. You've received such acclaim for it!

I've got a lot of good will because I'm doing something quite honest and I think people respect that at the end of the day. I think the album I made is quite a brave album for loads of little reasons. It's ' just a really honest facking straight-up record. It's got very good intentions and I suppose what I felt was, "okay, Beth, you've got one chance and what do you really want to tell the world” I could have done something so much more of the moment I could have really gone all guns blazing been the number one break, big beats, whatever, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to go the other way. I wanted to say, "well, if this is the I've got to make a record on my own, I make a good product, a pure record. The one I’m working on now is a huge bonus. I never thought I'd get to be making a second record, but I am.

How many songs are written for album?

I've got about twenty songs.

And how long dd it take to put those together?

It's hard to say.

I'm asking because it sounds like you’re really prolific.

I write a lot, yeah. I like to.

Do you think people consider you an success?

I don't know. I don't care, either.

You just listen to your heart?

No, I listen to my songs. Do you know what I mean? And they're brilliant and they're getting better, so fuck it.

Do you do any other kind of writing besides music?

Yeah. I write poems and stones for myself that's not for anyone else. I do free association. I like just writing and seeing what comes out.

Were there lessons you learned from acting that have helped you?

No, because it's always been in me- to get onstage. It's not like I learned it from being onstage. When people ask 'What did you learn?" ifs riot something I can really take because doing music makes you so much more vulnerable.

It seems to be you’re enjoying whatever you’re in the middle of.

Right now I'm really enjoying all sides of it. The thing I enjoy least is interviews.

I can’t say that I blame you there. It must feel like you're looked at under a microscope.

Well, I don't know about that I wouldn't mind if I was looked at under a microscope that way. It's more surface than that It never cuts through so therefore it's just like small talk and I'm not good at that I find that quite hard really, just to drivel on about a load of nothing.

I understand you played some dates on the Lilith Fair. How was that?

It was really interesting. There was a lot of talent and at some points it could be quite intimidating. But in another way it was very inspiring and I grew a lot in those six days. Being included was such an accolade.

How as it inspiring?

I don't know if you can put those sort of things into words. It's just come out in my confidence, I suppose. It’s come out in the way I feel about what I do. I don’t want to excuse what I do anymore. I saw a lot of people doing and coming from the same sort of place and I kind of understood it and I really got a lot from that. It made me feel more dedicated to what I do.

Can you tell me abit more about your confidence?

People say that they’re too unconfident to do this or that but I can vouch and state quite clearly that even when you have no confidence, you can still do it. Confidence is not a good excuse to not do things. When Marvin Gaye used to have to go onstage, he’d be so hittin’ it that he’d try and climb out the dressing room window. But still he’d go on and it would be amazing. Lack of confidence is a weird thing because it can stop you from doing what you should do, what is rightful yours to do. It can really rule you. You’ve just got to do things at the end of the day. Even when you’ve got no confidence and you don’t even know why you’re doing it, it’s just this underlying desire to do something when everything in your head is going "No, you can't What have you got to say and why do you want to say it. But it's passion because it's something in you. It's like a fire in your belly I was thinking the other day that when I first went onstage I didn't even have a shell. I was just an amoeba. I was just a wobbling mass of jelly. I get a bit self-conscious in my daily fife but when I'm onstage I can get a bit less.

What were you most afraid of?

I don't even know. It doesn't even have to be pinpointed. It was just fear, lack of confidence, lack of self-esteem.

How do you gain confidence as a player?

All my songs are written around two or dm chords. If you want confidence as a player, get someone onboard who plays better than you do. I play very basic guitar but I don't write very basic songs. I can write a really intricate melody around two chords. Then I go to the band. They are really talented and I say, 'these are my simple chords. Embellish." And they do. I'm really lucky I've pulled some really good people together. Then again, I've put a lot of energy out and you have to do that as well. You have to look after yourself a bit and get all your restores together. I've got so many friends who are so talented-really, fucking amazing writers and actresses. But you know what it is? It's not that they haven't got the talent The thing is they don't know how to execute it That must be so awful to see the potential in yourself, to see that other people see the potential in you and yet not be able to do anything about it.

You've been in a situation yourself, certainly, where you've had the right people around to help you execute what you're doing.

I haven't always and even though on paper it can look like that, it doesn't get you anywhere. At the end of the day, what has got me doing what I want is persistence and enthusiasm, even when I have no energy. Life is just too mundane. I don't think I'd live beyond my music, if you know what I mean. I have to do what I do to five, to get some point of existence, which sounds a bit melodramatic, but it's the truth.

Because you've worked with people like William Orbit and the Chemical Brothers, I think it would be easy for people to perceive that you’ve been molded by certain people have had quite a bit of say in your career.

Well, I'm sure people think dig. I'm amazed by the amount of times I read it about other people like Bjork. That woman is an inspiration unto herself As for me, I have had people sit in a room and tell me that I am their protégé in some way, and I'm like, "well, excuse me, but I existed long before I met most of the people I know now." Actually no one I know now would ever say that to me or try and pretend that d-r--y molded me because I'm just a little person unto my own, in my own right I do what I do because I choose it I choose it as much as they've chosen me. I can say that until I'm blue in the face but I think die proof is in the pudding, and I'm really happy with what I'm doing now. I thought at one point that I was nothing except the people I've worked with. This was years ago and I didn't really understand my own ability then. And the only way I found that was to keep doing it. I'm quite hard on go and “okay, Beth, well, prove it to yourself, myself. Prove it to me. Show me what you can do." This is me, talking to myself, by the way. I can five with myself and I'm quite proud of myself. And if I do get that thrown at me, I don't mind.

What’s your favorite part of this whole thing? Is it writing or is it touring or is it the whole package?

At the moment it would be going in the studio because I've just had a brilliant time in the studio. But when I got back from my American tour I would have said touring because I'd just had a brilliant tour. Arid then next time, maybe it will be a shit tour and I'll go, "no touring." I enjoy it all and the writing thing is essential to my well-being. I have to write to feel all right.