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Jun 1, 2016Kidsticks feels genuinely special--it’s an exciting reboot and a tantalizing hint that new strategies may be on the horizon, never a bad thing when an artist has been on the job more than two decades.
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May 10, 2016Experimental, unique, and brave; Beth Orton has just released her finest record. [May-Jun 2016, p.96]
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Jul 12, 2016Orton’s music lends itself to revisiting not only because she makes well-written, polished songs, but because the possible roads that lead to Kidsticks’ universe are endless.
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Jun 20, 2016This time, with another dance music stalwart in Fuck Buttons’ Andrew Hung on producing duties, Orton shows no fear in heading into the electronic void, with some of her most eclectic and exciting tracks to date.
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May 31, 2016Despite its sunny origins, there’s a shard of ice speared through Kidsticks, a frost that burns fierce as fire.
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May 26, 2016Kidsticks is a real reinvention: not so much a return to her electronic roots as a bold exploration of fresh territory.
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May 26, 2016She's surprised everyone yet again by turning her sultry voice and razor sharp intuition in a whole new direction, building Kidsticks off beats and keyboard loops she created in a Californian backyard with Fuck Buttons' Andrew Hung.
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May 25, 2016On some songs it feels like it’s still an experiment in progress--it’ll be fascinating to see how they evolve on the live stage and in remixes--but just as often, Orton is absolutely on top of her game.
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May 24, 2016Like so much of this vibrant, engrossing album, [Flesh And Blood is] full of the childlike joy and wonder that Orton has spoken about; a delightful return.
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May 23, 2016It is the very definition of a grower, simply because there are so many little things going on in stark contrast to her elegantly sparse previous release.
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UncutMay 10, 2016Simple but true. [Jun 2016, p.78]
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May 10, 2016This is an album swimming with inventiveness, quality and variety: it’s good to have her back.
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May 31, 2016On Kidsticks, she no longer sounds like she has anything left to prove, which is precisely what's allowed her to make the riskiest album of her career. And she sounds like she's had the time of her life making it, too.
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May 31, 2016Beth Orton has fluidly transformed her trip-hop+singer/songwriter roots into a fresh, original sound, which will surely resonate with both her longtime fans and new listeners alike, while providing a rich foundation for Orton to build upon during her third creative decade of casting intoxicating musical spells over us all.
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May 31, 2016At times Kidsticks feels a little uneven. Tempos and timbres shift regularly, never allowing the listener to truly settle into one mode, or gain a true sense of what is the coherent sonic voice at the heart of the album. That is, apart from Orton's voice itself, which has never sounded better or more in control.
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May 26, 2016Kidsticks isn't the sound of Orton closing her circle but opening it wide. In her restlessness and self-discovery, she looks outward and comes away fresh and renewed as a result.
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Jun 7, 2016Most of the songs on Kidsticks are quick and fun, with bright hooks and buoyant keyboards, and the lyrics lack the consequence Orton has brought to the themes of love and loss in the past.
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May 25, 2016Kidsticks's risk-taking, while not always on point, proves Orton capable of reinvention. She's still a voice worth listening to.
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May 25, 2016It’s an experimental record that often sounds like a meditative one, or vice versa, and it often seems better on paper than through the speakers.
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Q MagazineMay 10, 2016Nothing quite matches its [Snow's] shock and awe and there's some of the old water-treading in Falling, but there's menace in the repetition of "my tears well up and cry for you" on the spooked Petals and she's never sounded quite so otherworldly as she does on Corduroy Legs. [Jul 2016, p.113]
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May 27, 2016In the end, Kidsticks’ raw material is sound, and Orton’s attention to detail is impressive. But this adventurous approach could use a bit more structure and cohesion next time around.
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May 31, 2016Mostly the arrangements feel amorphous and vague, and matters aren't helped by the way Orton's voice is positioned in the mix. Her tone veers between conversational and angelic, just another texture in a scattered and shapeless series of musical pieces.
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May 26, 2016Kidsticks swings back toward electronica; the problem is that it’s poorly done. It’s the first time she’s written on synthesizers, not guitars, and frankly it’s a mess.