Beth Orton Returns With New Single The Ground Above
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Kasia Wozniak
Beth Orton has returned with a new single, The Ground Above.
Slow-building, expansive and meditative, the atmospheric track highlights the Norfolk singer-songwriter's powerful vocals across eight-and-a-half minutes. Introducing it, she said: "We are all vulnerable beings living out invincible lives."
She's accompanied on the self-produced song by Shahzad Ismaily on bass, Sam Beste on piano, Christos Stylianides on trumpet, Grey McMurray on electric guitar and Dave Okumu on "backwards" electric guitar. It marks her first proper single since her eighth album, and her debut for Partisan Records, 2022's 'Weather Alive'. She did, however, collaborate with Skinny Pelembe on a cover of Leonard Cohen's 1974 track Who By Fire in 2023. Introducing The Ground Above with a post on Instagram, she wrote:
"Linear time has no place in music. I find myself trying to iron out my brain like a map, to show what started where, I could spend forever writing notes in the margins, notes to self, finding archaeological artifacts, layers of soil and magic, the strata of love, sorrow and joy in relation to time, all that goes into the architecture of any particular song.
"What has kept me alive is a feral invincibility, barrelling through life, propelled magnetically as in a flying dream that won’t allow for time to get hold of my ankles and catch up with me. Grief had me say yes to life, to embrace and taste and devour. I know life to be as pointless and as meaningful as I can make it. I wanted to write some of this into a dream, a confluence of meaning and feeling."
Orton will perform at this year's 20th edition of Latitude festival in July, headlined by David Byrne, Teddy Swims and Lewis Capaldi. Before that, she'll play headline shows in Belfast, Dundee and Aberdeen in May. Tickets are on sale now.
Beth Orton Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Sun May 03 2026 - BELFAST Carlisle Memorial Church
Wed May 06 2026 - DUNDEE Beat Generator Live
Thu May 07 2026 - ABERDEEN Tunnels
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