The following text field will produce suggestions that follow it as you type.

The Painter
The Painter

The Painter in Bloomington, MN

Current price: $15.99
Loading Inventory...
Get it at Barnes and Noble

Size: CD

Get it at Barnes and Noble
Now entering his fifth decade in music, pioneering producer and overall song stylist
William Orbit
returns to his trademark blend of ambience and world fusion, progressive house and electro-pop, and seductiveness and spaciousness on his 12th solo album and first in eight years,
The Painter
. It finds him welcoming a number of guest vocalists, including longtime collaborator
Beth Orton
, who lent vocals to 1993's
Strange Cargo III
around the time he was producing her debut album. She appears here on "I Paint What I Can See," one of two reworked tracks from the limited streaming release
Strange Cargo 5
(2014). (The other is "The Diver" featuring
Natalie Walker
.) Developing slowly, "I Paint What I Can See" eventually settles into a melodic bass groove with ticking hi-hat. Just before the two-minute mark,
Orton
's glimmering-keyboard-accompanied humming switches to a half-whispered monologue about relationships, her surroundings, and painting. She reappears later, on "No Other World," a glitchier track with more focus on wide-ranging timbres but with a similarly low-key, danceable disposition. That's generally true of the entire over-hour-long album, which like
Orbit
's previous non-classical solo work is much more concerned with creating a hypnotic, head-bobbing vibe than particularly memorable hooks or melodies. There are still standouts on board, however, including the
Polly Scattergood
collaboration "Colours Colliding," whose twinkling piano and keyboard tones, pixie-like voice samples, brittle lead vocal, and melancholy harmonic center achieve a more cinematic effect. The more club-oriented "Bank of Wildflowers" featuring
Georgia
is more playlist-friendly, while non-English entries like "Nuestra Situacion" featuring
Lido Pimienta
and the over-eight-minute "Heshima kwa Hukwe" with
Hukwe Zawose
seem to treat language like a timbre -- or in the case of
, a color. Before it's over,
works in an appearance by
Laurie Mayer
, whose collaborations with
date back his first band,
Torch Song
. She's featured alongside
Gloria Kaba
on closing track "Free Glo," which ends the proceedings on a playful, symphonic dance-oriented note. While arguably overlong,
not only feels heartfelt on occasion but offers just enough variety, mainly through its guests, to sidestep sameyness while sticking to his signature sound. Trivia of note:
also did the album's painterly artwork. ~ Marcy Donelson
Powered by Adeptmind