The album opens with the track Stolen Car: a delicate introduction of lightly plucked guitar and a low-pitched, somewhat sombre strings section leading into Orton’s elegant full-bodied and low-toned vocals. Higher-pitched harmonies melt into Orton’s voice in a manner most similar to the evanescence of a lover’s embrace: perfect effortlessness. The bereft tone set by the string section at the beginning of the song is never lifted, save for a short electric guitar solo around half way through, and even the overdriven lead parts toward the end tell a sorrowful story: even that which would be uplifting is itself a sinking ship. Beautiful misery.

‘She’s deep as a well, she’s deep as a well‘: once again, Orton’s unique vocal style is demonstrated; and this time at its top end. Sweetest Decline breaks any possible illusions of a pattern being set by Stolen Car: a brighter piano lead sets the tone for the song, accompanied by a far more jolly violin part, meeting delightfully with Orton’s discovery of the concept of a major key. ‘What are regrets? What are regrets?‘ – the song’s message is one of self-improvement and certainly is convincing amidst this incredible positive atmosphere of swelling violins and jangling keys. Couldn’t Cause Me Harm is another more upbeat song, with the higher-yet-husky nature of Orton’s vocals being explored. Xylophone and an African-esque percussive influence combine to form a slightly eccentric pop sound.

So Much More is another downtempo track, with the slow pace of the music accentuating the seemingly painstakingly wide shifts in vocal pitch; shifts more than dramatic enough to show Orton’s complete vocal range. Soft and delicate piano carries the listener through the song with casual ease; floating arrangements for troubled minds – minds ‘looking for air to breathe’ as Orton herself puts it. Pass in Time allows for a folk-pop cliché to be well and truly fulfilled: it’s a male-female collaboration, but one of a quality high enough for this to be excused. Bright guitar and piano meet with darker string parts in the flux of Orton’s voice meshing with that of Terry Callier’s; itself a harmony of great contrast amidst the contrast of guitar and strings gradually being more joyous throughout the song.

The title track (obviously, Central Reservation) starts simply with only Orton’s voice, a quiet guitar and piano: a trifecta which is to lead into nothing more complex, save for the addition of strings later. This simplicity of timbre and texture in the song definitely works in its favour: the rich nature of Orton’s vocals is stressed under the (frankly) bland underlying music. A more electronic feel is introduced to Orton’s music in All Stars Seem to Weep, an upbeat number introduced by a sweeping synth line. Orton’s deliciously sustained vocals over this further minimalist backing is an undeniable aural treat, and once again finds simplicity to be in its favour.

Unfortunately, it just had to be that a singer in her genre would just have to write meta-music: a somewhat reflexive song about the songwriting process is found in Love Like Laugher. Music about music is, to me, just laziness as does bias me against a song pretty strongly; combining this with a stereotypically bittersweet love song just leads to what is inevitably to be a musical train wreck: the muted guitar singals the inital derailing; Orton’s weakened, less tremulous voice the screaming of those thrown to the sides of their carriage. Blood Red River is a return to form: Beth Orton’s unleashes her siren song unrestrained once again over muted strings, and it is nothing but wonderful. Devil Song is much of the same, and that is no bad thing.

Feel to Believe ends the album on an uplifting note, Orton’s voice at its major peak; sole acoustic guitar for accompaniment. Throughout the album, Orton throws hints to the lyrical subtleties of Regina Spektor, the nature of the songstress exhibited by the likes of Leslie Feist and Chan Marshall and the musicanship shown by the likes of Joni Mitchell: to be able to draw such comparisons is truly a compliment to her, but it can’t be said that this amalgamam works perfectly. Her songs suffer, at times, by sounding fairly similar to one another. That aside, I can do nothing but recommend this album heartily.