Beth Orton: The Q Interview

Singer-songwriter Beth Orton, 32, was born in Norfolk but has lived in London "all her life". Her 1996 debut album Trailer Park was nominated for a Mercury Music award and she has worked with musicians as diverse as Terry Callier and the Chemical Brothers. She has just released her first compilation of hits and unreleased tracks and is working on her fourth album.

You've experimented with a lot of musical styles. What's next?

I think the thing that strings together everything that I've done is "roots", whether it's with an acoustic guitar or working with someone like the Chemical Brothers. It's hard to say where I'm going next because my next record isn't finished. But it is going to be stripped bare. I've always wanted to make a record that was sparse and broken down. Anyway, I hate talking about music - I'm so bad at it.

You've collaborated with loads of different people. Which did you enjoy the most?

Emmylou Harris was extraordinary. She's one of the most generous-spirited people I think I've ever met. I know it sounds trite but it's true - she's just so dignified. To meet her left an everlasting impression. You hear about people like her but to spend a little bit of time with her is a gift, really. She's way up there.

You used to go to acting classes before you got into music. Did you ever consider becoming an actress?

That was what I wanted to do initially. I left school and joined a travelling theatre company. I went back to Norfolk and we did this tour of tiny seaside villages. We didn't have money for hotels so we used to camp on football pitches or in parks. It was brilliant. Then I met William [Orbit]. He was very enamoured and decided I should be a singer or that I could sing. I just thought it was probably because he wanted a bit of the other. It was weird because singing was something I'd never had in mind.

Are you living in London now?

Yeah, I've lived here all my life. I've been tempted to live in the country. I've still got friends in Norfolk so I know I can always go back. I'm a bit of a city dweller now. I quite like it here. It's easy to get drawn into stuff. Sometimes I think it's quite hard to write in the city - all that frenetic energy. I prefer writing in a hotel room.

There are some tracks on this collection from your first album, SuperPinkyMandy, which was only released in Japan.

SuperPinkyMandy was the first record I made with William - there are a couple of songs on it that I think are quite sweet and I've put them on this record. William wanted me to front his project but I was totally inept. I'd just been working with this lunatic Russian acting troupe and I wasn't really into becoming a pop star.

Is it true the name came from a doll you bought at a jumble sale when you were little?

Yeah. It's pathetic, but she was my favourite ragdoll and she had muscles, so she was "super", she was pink, so she was "pinky" and she was a Mandy.

Is your body a temple or a bikeshed?

I'm more healthy when I work. When I'm touring I'm so vigilant and aware. So when I'm off tour, I have a life - which sometimes means I get a bit carried away and sometimes I do bikeshed myself, so to speak. I've struck a deal with myself where I can go out and have a laugh but then sort of eat good fish for a few days. Retox detox. In fact, this is the retox detox tour 'cause everyone's always retoxing and detoxing, which is probably why everyone's so mad nowadays.

So what do you get up to when you're having a retox/bikeshed moment?

Oh you don't want to know. I like to dance. I love to go out - if there's good music and people letting go. I can't bear going out and everyone standing around being all self-conscious.

How do you feel about having kids? Is it on the cards?

I'd love to have kids one day, I really would. But I'm the sort of person who doesn't want to have children on their own; I want to have children with someone else and bring them up with someone else - I'm quite old-fashioned like that. And I don't really want to have children unless it's a compulsion, unless I love someone so much. I just think this whole thing of "oh, I'm at this age now, I'd better have a child", is just ridiculous. It's so selfish it drives me crazy. I see people having children so often for the wrong reason and it's like "oh sod off - just 'cause you think you should, just 'cause it adds up, you know, got your house, got your wife, got your this, got your that: have a kid!"

Is it true that the best time of a woman's life is her thirties?

Well, someone's been telling me that it really starts at 40. She's this wonderful woman and she says the thirties are just as hard as twenties but in a different way - they're just as confusing. But when you get to 40, it's just extraordinary - apparently the whole world opens up. I like getting older, I'm having more fun. But you do get younger as you get older sometimes, don't you?

What's your worst habit?

Leaving half-eaten things - like I'll suck a sweet and then leave it on the side, or eat half a biscuit and then leave it, or someone will make me a cup of tea and I just won't drink it. So wherever I've been I always leave a little trail of crumbs and mess. Or I'll leave half a chocolate and put the other half back in the box. Isn't that disgusting? But I do it without thinking ... I don't know why. I've been told off so many times now that I am getting better about it.

What is your favourite room in the house?

It's funny you should ask that, because I've just moved in and I've just sorted out my spare room - because I've got a friend staying - and it's just become my favourite room. It's a really beautiful cosy room and I bought a bed for it and hung up curtains and it's adorable ... Another favourite room is my little studio room, with all my books and records and guitars and piano. I'm learning to play the piano. My bedroom is also a favourite room. I love it.

What would you like to achieve before you're, say, 60?

I'd love to learn to sculpt and paint. And I want to learn how to play the accordion. But not before I'm 60; I mean I'd like to do it in the next year or so. One of the first instruments I learnt was the drums and I'm quite good at that co-ordination, in a weird way. Rubbing your belly and patting your head at the same time.

'Pass In Time: The Definitive Collection' is released tomorrow, on BMG records.