First time through you could be excused for thinking this sounds like background music at Starbucks. But Orton is truly protean, and here she is hitched up with the insanely brilliant Jim O'Rourke on the boards, and every song here rewards repeated listenings; they get weirder and deeper the more you listen. What I love best is the way songs just end when they're done doing what they set out to do. That's a hard skill for a poet to learn: When to eschew finishing in favor of ending.
I've loved Orton for more than a decade. I believe that if she had decided to promote herself harder, she could have been a superstar. She didn't, and I think she's probably stayed sane and happy as a result. I hear that she's got a new one coming, at last, in 2012. I'm excited, but I haven't minded waiting.
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