Comfort of Strangers

For the Ian McEwan book, see The Comfort of Strangers.

Comfort of Strangers
Studio album by
Beth Orton
Released7 February 2006
StudioSear Sound, New York City
GenreFolk
Length47:11
LabelAstralwerks/EMI
ProducerJim O'Rourke
Beth Orton chronology
Pass in Time
(2003) 		Comfort of Strangers
(2006) 		Sugaring Season
(2012)
Singles from Comfort of Strangers
  1. "Conceived"
    Released: 30 January 2006
  2. "Shopping Trolley"
    Released: 26 June 2006
  3. "Heart of Soul"
    Released: 18 September 2006
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[3]
Mojo[4]
NME6/10[5]
Pitchfork7.2/10[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
Slant Magazine[8]
SpinB+[9]
Stylus MagazineA−[10]
Uncut[11]

Comfort of Strangers is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Beth Orton. The album was recorded in just two weeks at New York's Sear Sound studio in the spring of 2005, with musician and composer Jim O'Rourke as producer. It features Orton on guitar, piano and harmonica with O'Rourke on bass, piano and marimba and the American percussionist Tim Barnes on drums.

Singles

"Conceived", released 29 November 2005 as a digital download, and 31 January 2006 on 7" and CD in the UK.

Track listing

All songs were composed by Beth Orton; the title track was written in partnership with O'Rourke and singer-songwriter M. Ward.

  1. "Worms" – 2:04
  2. "Countenance" – 2:23
  3. "Heartland Truckstop" – 2:48
  4. "Rectify" – 2:27
  5. "Comfort of Strangers" – 3:18
  6. "Shadow of a Doubt" – 3:58
  7. "Conceived" – 3:27
  8. "Absinthe" – 4:02
  9. "A Place Aside" – 2:19
  10. "Safe in Your Arms" – 4:28
  11. "Shopping Trolley" – 2:51
  12. "Feral Children" – 3:35
  13. "Heart of Soul" – 3:50
  14. "Pieces of Sky" – 3:09

Limited edition bonus disc

  1. "What We Begin"  – 3:30
  2. "On My Way Home"  – 3:08
  3. "Comfort of Strangers #9"  – 3:16
  4. "Did Somebody Make a Fool of You?"  – 2:16
  5. "Northern Sky"  – 2:58

Charts

Chart performance for Comfort of Strangers
Chart (2006) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 40
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[13] 51
UK Albums (OCC)[14] 24
US Billboard 200[15] 92

References

  1. ^ "Comfort Of Strangers by Beth Orton". Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  2. ^ Allmusic review
  3. ^ [10 Entertainment Weekly review]
  4. ^ [Mar Mojo review]
  5. ^ "Beth Orton: Comfort Of Strangers". NME. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  6. ^ Pitchfork Media review Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Hoard, Christian (6 February 2006). "Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers". Archived from the original on 9 January 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "Slant Magazine". Archived from the original on 7 August 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  9. ^ [Feb Spin review]
  10. ^ Stylus Magazine review Archived 14 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Mar Uncut review
  12. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  14. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  15. ^ "Beth Orton Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 4 September 2022.