Spin (1/98, p.88) - Included on Spin's list of "Unheard Music" - "Like a silver-jacketed rave kid who's still a card-carrying member of the Village Green Preservation Society, Brit singer/songwriter Orton situates her haunty, folky wails on top of city-slicker dance beats..."
Entertainment Weekly (5/2/97, p.60) - "England's Orton...pioneers a new genre--ambient folk--on her potent debut. Orton swings engagingly from despair to resolve, supported by slurred synthesizers and trembling acoustic guitars..." - Rating: A-
Q (4/00, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...an album for which the hammock might have been invented: slow, sedate, but as warm as the evening sun....this is a sublime, incense-scented joy from start to finish."
Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #19 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
NME (Magazine) (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #24 in NME's 1996 critics' poll.
Personnel includes: Beth Orton (vocals, guitar, mandolin); Ted Barnes (acoustic & electric guitars, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, harmonium, bass); Andrew Hackett (electric guitar); Keith Tenniswood (guitar, keyboards); Sean Kilbride (dulcimer); Becki Doe, Lucy Wilkins, Howard Gott, Nia Bevan (violin); Rob Spriggs, Becca Ware (viola); Oliver Kraus, Sara Wilson (cello); David Boulter (harmonium, Hammond organ); Sean Reed (piano, Hammond organ); Lee Spencer (keyboards); Ali Friend (bass); Will Blanchard (drums); Tasha Lee McCluney (background vocals).
Engineers: Gideon Schaltman, Toby Bush, Keith Tenniswood.
TRAILER PARK, the debut album by British songstress Beth Orton, is a swirling voyage that soars beyond the sonic limitations that are the Achilles heel of singer/songwriters. Recorded with producer Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Tindersticks), TRAILER PARK's lush, sinewy string arrangements, imaginative sound effects, and tasteful accompaniment contribute a complexity that lifts, rather than smothers, the stark, up-front vocals and breezy, melodic guitar playing. Somehow, the busier things get, the more room she seems to have.
Orton's lyrics are just introspective and plaintive enough--she neither pleads nor lectures. Overall her message is wistful beyond her years, and sad without being self-indulgent. Smart and skilled, but also honest and strong, she possesses a modern edge that pushes her out of the folk-singer mold and into the realm of inventive, innovative pop music.