Beth Orton – Kidsticks

More layers than your average onion, frenetic drumbeats, looped to high heaven, reverb-heavy and driven by flickering guitar and synths: Snow is a blistering introduction to what is a blistering return from Beth Orton. This is album number seven, and while the middle three were pleasant (there were moments of real beauty on 2012’s Sugaring Season), they didn’t excite the listener in the manner of Trailer Park or Central Reservation.

Now, teaming up with Fuck Button Andrew Hung, it’s easy to remember Orton as the enfant terrible who popped Es into William Orbit’s mouth and produced some of the finest records of the late 90s. Orton’s vocals are simple, often mantra-like, chopped and stratified to coalesce beautifully with the fine bed of electronica, and it works a treat. Lead single Moon cries out to be remixed, while 1973 – perhaps the straightest song here – is disco-tinged gold. This is an album swimming with inventiveness, quality and variety: it’s good to have her back.