In the past, Orton's easy delivery and the arty affectations of her collaborators have often caused her albums to drift into the murky ether. On Comfort of Strangers, Orton sounds more focused than ever, channeling drawled heartache, warm come-ons and snatches of lost AM-radio hits into songs that seek out your inner lullaby. The dark, uptempo "Worms" is the sharpest song she's written in years. On acoustic winners like "Shadow of a Doubt" and "[Heart] of Soul," she, O'Rourke and drummer Tim Barnes equip coffeehouse arrangements with muffled percussion, strings and the occasional harmonica solo, and the delicate patter suits Orton's terrifically malleable voice. She swoops and swoons while longing for an irretrievable past on "Absinthe" and floats like a friendly ghost on the wispy title track. The easy-grooving "Conceived" banks on a catchy L.A.-pop chorus that drops like a gift from above, and on "A Place Aside," Orton recalls an ex-lover with a stalwart rush of feeling that recalls Blonde on Blonde-era Dylan. Comfort of Strangers is probably still too low-key for a mass audience, but it's the album that Orton needed to make: Whereas before she might have gotten lost in her reveries, on Strangers she pokes around in the nooks and crannies of her memory-addled brain without ever losing her way.

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CHRISTIAN HOARD

(Posted: Feb 6, 2006)