Beth Orton (Photo by Bryan Ledgard)

This must be the saddest song I’ve written about so far. Usually I’m all about happy upbeat songs, especially this time of year with the days getting sunnier and warmer. Or better said, the sad songs I like usually have a positive edge to them. But maybe I have finally learned that not always is it a good idea to trump bad feelings with happy music. Lately more melancholic music has been just the perfect thing for me when I’ve been feeling down. Not that I’ve been so sad lately, more like that no one can be happy all of the time.

My music taste was pretty different in mid ’90s, I was very much into Chemical Brothers back then. Beth Orton sang on their 1997 album Dig Your Own Hole, and that was the first I heard of her. I didn’t really come to like her until recently, I always thought her music was just too melancholic for my taste.

Galaxy of Emptiness is the last track on Beth’s 1996 release Trailer Park. The album version is ten minutes long, starting with almost a four minute instrumental part, which I don’t find all that interesting. This is an acoustic live version with Ted Barnes on mandolin. I like this version much better, it’s such a soothing song.