This year marks the 10th anniversary of Beth Orton's eye-opening debut, Trailer Park, an album that came as the culmination of a long and circuitous apprenticeship.
Born in Norfolk, she and her mother moved to London when Beth was 14 years old. She spent her late teens engrossed in a veritable plethora of music – "The Beatles’ White Album and Revolver, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, the Cocteau Twins, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, John Martyn, Shinehead, Blondie, the Beastie Boys, The Clash, Jimi Hendrix, The Specials, Eek-a-Mouse, Led Zeppelin, The Jam, Rickie Lee Jones, Rolling Stones, The Byrds, Prince, Kate Bush's The Kick Inside, even my mother’s classical and opera records...", she says.
"I immersed myself in songwriters but I was brought up in a house where the walls literally shook from the music played by my brother who went through every genre of music from punk to hip hop and everything in between, all played at deafening volume. I can't tie it all up, it almost seems as though there is too much".
This enormous fascination with music of all kinds was later evident in Beth Orton's impatient imagination, the almost headlong desire to embark on new ideas and partnerships. Yet despite this driving force in her music career, Beth's initial ambitions as she reached the end of her teens were more firmly focused on acting. Indeed, she spent some time touring in fringe theatre – she once played Rimbaud's lover in A Season in Hell – before meeting up with dance producer William Orbit who was to become her first musical mentor and collaborator.
Born in Norfolk, she and her mother moved to London when Beth was 14 years old. She spent her late teens engrossed in a veritable plethora of music – "The Beatles’ White Album and Revolver, Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, the Cocteau Twins, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, John Martyn, Shinehead, Blondie, the Beastie Boys, The Clash, Jimi Hendrix, The Specials, Eek-a-Mouse, Led Zeppelin, The Jam, Rickie Lee Jones, Rolling Stones, The Byrds, Prince, Kate Bush's The Kick Inside, even my mother’s classical and opera records...", she says.
"I immersed myself in songwriters but I was brought up in a house where the walls literally shook from the music played by my brother who went through every genre of music from punk to hip hop and everything in between, all played at deafening volume. I can't tie it all up, it almost seems as though there is too much".
This enormous fascination with music of all kinds was later evident in Beth Orton's impatient imagination, the almost headlong desire to embark on new ideas and partnerships. Yet despite this driving force in her music career, Beth's initial ambitions as she reached the end of her teens were more firmly focused on acting. Indeed, she spent some time touring in fringe theatre – she once played Rimbaud's lover in A Season in Hell – before meeting up with dance producer William Orbit who was to become her first musical mentor and collaborator.
Orton's debut came as one half of the duo Spill, a one-off project with Orbit recording a cover version of John Martyn's Don't Wanna Know About Evil. She also worked with Orbit on his 1993 Strange Cargo project, co-writing and singing Water From a Vine Leaf. Beth's path towards a solo career was further signposted when Orbit produced Superpinkymandy, a rare recording released only in Japan.
As a consequence of her rising reputation Beth Orton was asked to sing Alive Alone, a stand out track on the Chemical Brothers' astonishing 1995 debut album, Exit Planet Dust. She also worked with the freak-beat jazz combo Red Snapper, providing the vocals for their first singles, Snapper and In Deep, before setting about the serious business of recording her own worldwide debut album.
Trailer Park, released in October 1996, was an intriguing step forward, blending Beth Orton's guitars with samples and beats on an album of starkly personal and sensual songs.
Produced by Victor Van Vugt (of Tindersticks and Nick Cave fame) and Andrew Weatherall (responsible for Primal Scream's classic Screamadelica, an album that Beth claims introduced her to dance music), Trailer Park suggested the emergence of a new kind of rhythm-fuelled folk – a significance recognised when it was shortlisted for the UK's prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 1997, with the judges claiming Beth to be the "queen of the heartbreak vocal". The album also marked the start of Beth Orton’s long musical partnership with guitarist Ted Barnes.