Beth Orton shares poignant new single ‘Friday Night’
Beth Orton has shared the official music video for her latest single, ‘Friday Night’, alongside the announcement of a run of intimate in-store appearances.
‘Friday Night’ comes as the third single to preview her upcoming album, Weather Alive, following ‘Forever Young’ and the album’s title track. Weather Alive is set for full release on September 23rd via Partisan Records.
The new single comes complete with a self-directed video accompaniment filmed on the Greek island of Hydra. The video shows Orton sitting pensively on a windowsill as she sings to the camera. The music brings a light beat to ambient soundscapes that perfectly frames the tone of reflection in Orton’s vocals. Toward the end of the video, kaleidoscopic visuals reveal distant memories.
Discussing the new single, Orton said: “Friday Night is someone reflecting on, and trying to decide, what to give up or what to surrender to. Passion or ambivalence? Whether to ‘bleed or rust in the rain’. Most of us are struggling to make sense of where to put the love we have for those that are lost to us, let alone the ones that remain. Sometimes there is no right answer except to find the wisdom in the spaces between the endings and beginnings, in the remembrance of things past or in search of lost time, there are always repercussions to the choices we make.
“We are listening to the internal dialogue of someone living it out, what is futile and what is worth fighting for, and trying to do as little damage along the way. Friday night being the night that makes the week more bearable, there is hope.”
“Coming to realise what is real and what is out of reach can be unbelievably painful, waking up to the love that remains can be the greatest gift and the most wonderful surprise,” the statement concludes. “Even in absence there is presence, there is no escape but to look for where the love is still alive within us.”
A statement about the new album describes it as “a record that collates memories and experiences spanning a lifetime, with stories that touch on struggles, on healing and of beauty.”
Beth Orton UK Tour Dates:
August
- 19th – Beautiful Days Festival, Devon
- 21st – Open House Festival, Bangor
September (in-store appearances)
- 23rd – Rough Trade East, London
- 25th – Bear Tree, Sheffield
- 26th – Assai Records, Edinburgh
- 28th – HMV, Nottingham
- 29th – Truck Store, Oxford
October
- 7th – Academy 2, Birmingham
- 8th – St. Bartholomew’s Church, Brighton
- 9th – KOKO, London
- 10h – Arts Centre, Norwich
- 12th – St George’s, Bristol
- 13th – Classic Grand, Glasgow
- 15th – RCMN Concert Hall, Manchester
- 16th – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Stream the new video for Beth Orton’s ‘Friday Night’ below.
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