For those who were wondering whether the next Beth Orton album, the one Jim O'Rourke produced, would be any good, the answer is no. Beth's voice is pretty dull, and her songwriting is as well. The production is good, but not interesting. Like, it's not overproduced or offputtingly slick and huge, like moments on Aimee Mann records, but there's nothing cool going on. I was thinking that- I mean, Beth Orton's got some electronic background, right? Not the good kind, but the dancey kind- I think she was on Astralwerks for a time, yes? None of that here, it's just dignified quiet acoustic backdrops. It's good in that it's actually tasteful. Maybe too much so- Occasionally, it goes for bigger stuff, poppier choruses, volume, dynamics, whatever, and it just doesn't quite come off.

There's supposed to be a Loose Fur album in 2006, right? That should be good.