Beth Orton Daybreaker

I don't always like writing bad reviews. And this is one of those times, as I was actually looking forward to listening to Orton's third album, having been a big fan of Central Reservation.

You can summarise this 10 song set in one word: tired. A first listen flies by in no time, no one single track managing to drag itself into a position of attention requirement. The biggest surprise is that even recent single, the Johnny Marr co-written Concrete Sky, does exactly this. As a man who in the past has seemingly plucked killer melodies for fun over 20 years, it's a letdown when this number turns out to be a somewhat lazy affair.

Daybreaker is full of such collaborations and letdowns. The Chemical Brothers, William Orbit, Ben Watt and Ryan Adams all have a crack. In truth, they could be anyone, such is the end result.

Of course, part of the problem is the somewhat desperate attempts of genre-jumping. Getting veteran county singer Emmylou Harris to thrown in some half-arsed backing vocals on God Song just confirms that the song is as dull as its title. To summarise in a little more detail: something of a waste of talent.