Album reviews: Beth Orton | Rodney Crowell | Brian d’Souza | Warren James

Beth Orton: The Ground Above (Partisan Records) ★★★★

Rodney Crowell: Then Again (New West Records) ★★★★

Brian d’Souza: Plants Can Dance (A State of Flo) ★★★

Warren James: Tales From Film City (Spinout Nuggets) ★★★★

In a 30-year career, Beth Orton has pushed - gently, but with a sense of purpose - at the boundaries between soul-searching singer/songwriter territory and the adventurous pastures beyond where folk and jazz can frolic freely. She learned from the best, collaborating with soulman Terry Callier in the late 90s, and his spirit infuses her immersive new album.

Aside from the instantly recognizable cry in her voice, one of her greatest skills is assembling primo players to bring her soaring soundscapes to life. The Ground Above features Adrian Utley (Portishead), jazz bassist Tom Herbert, drummers Chris Vatalaro (Radiohead) and Tom Skinner (The Smile) among others, all converging with ultimate feel and mutual respect in the creation of a sumptuous suite which takes it time but makes its mark.

Orton evinces sheer soul over muted trumpet and limpid piano on the uncluttered yet luxurious Before I Knew. Its meditation on love and grief is followed by the slow, seductive Cigarette Curls, inspired by a formative friendship, and embellished with the mesmeric murmurings of American singer Nick Hakim and a burnished guitar solo.

Trumpet trills, fluid, melodic piano and featherlight rhythms complement Waiting’s lyrical themes of breaking out of negativity before the track emerges into the sunlight. The cosmic folktronica of Celestial Light is just as warm but moodier in its celebration of restorative solitude.

I’ll Miss You is a more conventional, if beautifully calibrated ballad, its soft textures belying the angst in the lyrics as Orton wrestles with thoughts of moving on from a relationship, while closing track Otherside is as extrovert as she gets, beseeching “tell me you made it out alive” as the song builds to an indie gospel climax and a well deserved round of applause in the studio.

Thank the music gods that Rodney Crowell looked down the back of his sofa and rediscovered an album he recorded two decades ago with top drawer guests including Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett and ace organist Benmont Tench. Then Again is sheer country folk listening pleasure featuring the perennially relevant Are You One of Us? about mankind’s capacity for manufacturing division and a Greek tragedy in the form of bluegrass tune The Ballad of Artemis and Orion.

If I Could Speak to Leonard was added later but actually written before Cohen’s death in 2016. This shout-out to the baritone bard emulates his style with sighing siren backing vocals, delicate, intricate guitar work and plangent strings, while another new song, Go Light a Candle, features longtime collaborator Emmylou Harris as the guest star siren.

Ecology meets technology on Plants Can Dance, an ambient album project curated by Brian d’Souza, aka SAY Award winning artist Auntie Flo, inviting examples of biosonification - the art of translating the organic and electrical activity of the natural world into sound, from wind patterns to plant biodata. Turns out plants don’t do beats but they do dig the reverberating cello and electronics on Jason Singh’s Tsubaki, saxophonist Zekarias Musele Thompson’s work on the mellow Growing Roots, the big, beatific waves of analogue synthesizer on Lamine’s Bougainvillea and d’Souza’s own twinkling Hector’s Sunflower.

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Warren James are a new Glasgow duo comprising former Orange Juice guitarist/songwriter James Kirk and singer/songwriter Warren McIntyre, more usually spotted with his band Starry Skies. Debut album Tales From Film City is named in honour of their studio in Govan but looks to the west coast of the USA as much as the Ayrshire riviera on the Byrds-like country rock Costa del Culzean, the surf rocking On the Bayou and sunny guitar twang and balmy harmonies of Iron Star, while making room for the escapist Scotpop crooning of Miss Green Tea and Fox and Circle.

CLASSICAL

Dialogues: Schubert : Errollyn Wallen (Delphian) ★★★★

The idea that Schubert can cohabit lieder recitals in “dialogue” with complementary song settings is not new. But this one, in which songs from the posthumously-published Schwanengesang are reordered and interspersed with equally questioning and personal poetry by composer Errollyn Wallen, is both intuitive and potent. It’s also a dynamic coupling, Wallen having given carte blanche to baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianist Dylan Perez to present her collection, The Lake, in any format they wish. For this recording the ordering of both the Schubert and Wallen interact to tell a unique story. You hear in Wallen’s songs music that is often powerfully elemental, hearteningly beautiful, even teasingly inconclusive, serving up a contemporary reaction to the spiritual disquiet of Schubert’s Rellstab, Heine and Seidl settings. A magical segue from Wallen’s Courage - where the subject finds internal peace - to Schubert’s haunting Der Doppelgänger concludes a thoughtful, reflective performance. Ken Walton

JAZZ

Colin Steele: Stramash II (Gadgemo Records) ★★★★

Eighteen years on from the initial album by his glorious folk-jazz fusion dectet Stramash, trumpeter Colin Steele has reassembled it. His lyrical trumpet and pianist Dave Milligan’s peerless arrangements are complemented by the likes of saxophonist Phil Bancroft, a rich-sounding string section including Chris Stout and Seonaid Aitken, and piper Rory Campbell. The opener, Declaration of Arbroath, is a wonderfully dark scene-setter, instruments mustering under broody clouds before trumpet and tenor sax start to unfold the stately theme. Elgin Laddie fairly sets the pace, a punchy reel punctuated by some sizzling Hot Club fiddle, while Earl of Hospitalfield, a tribute to jazz promoter and broadcaster Alan Steadman, demonstrates Steele’s penchant for melody. Fergus honours Scots pianist Fergus McCreadie, propelled by Calum Gourlay’s lithe double bass and staccato strings that take on brass and pipes, while the album closes with the rambunctious funk of Bangers and Stramash. Jim Gilchrist

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