New music releases

There have been some interesting new CDs released in the past few weeks:

• William Orbit - "Hello Waveforms" - his first album in 5 years or so. After a few listenings, I quite like it but find it a little too spaced-out and mellow. It's follows in the same veign as "Pieces in a Modern Style", although there are some vocal tracks. I still prefer Strange Cargo 3 and Hinterland. Good news is that he is supposedly releasinganother album later this year.
• Beth Orton - "Comfort of Strangers". I love her voice, but it took some getting used to. No review of the album yet - I need to listen to it more.
• Bic Runga - "Birds". An incredible singer/songwriter from NZ. Instead of an Amazon link, the link on the left is to the HMV site in Aus, where you can order a special edition which includes 5 live tracks. Neil Finn plays piano on the live songs and plays on the album. I've just ordered this, so no review yet.