If Beth Orton's 1997 debut Trailer Park made the multifaceted Brit singer a critic's fave, her major-label follow-up is sure to extend that appeal to consumers. Walking a tight rope between hypnotic atmospherics and a gentle-voiced Sandy Denny (Orton has worked with the Chemical Brothers and toured with Lilith Fair), this time around, the six-foot singer-songwriter ups the ante on all fronts.
"Stolen Car" leads off with her strongest suit: an expansive, jangly folk tune driven by her airy voice and underpinned with rich, sonic textures (in this case, some inventive backward slide guitar). Ditto with "So Much More" and "Pass In Time," a pair of passionate John Martyn-styled tunes that give Orton ample room to stretch words and syllables into reverbed indecipherable-ness. Elsewhere, "Sweetest Decline," featuring Dr. John on piano, is a classic ballad that ranks as one of Orton's most evolved tunes to date.
Whatever the reason--confidence, budget, or marketability--Reservation is noticeably less murky and mysterious than Trailer Park. The closest she comes to TP's nine-minute space out, "Galaxy Of Emptiness," is Ben Watt's percolating mix of the disc's breathy title track. However, singing "Devil Song," a simple, unadorned minor-keyed track, with the voice of a troubled angel, Orton shows that her songs and voice are all that's really necessary.
