Return of the heartbreak queen

"It took a break from songwriting for folktronica pioneer Beth Orton to find her voice again, writes BERNARD ZUEL.

In some parts of the Sydney Festival offices, the languid and lanky folk singer Beth Orton is famous for a joke she told on a previous visit, five years ago. Don't worry, it's safe for children, though the same can't be said for delicate comic sensibilities.

A rabbit walks into a cafe and asks if they make toasties. Told yes, he asks for a cheese toastie and tomato toastie. The man behind the counter says, ''Why don't you put them together and have a cheese-and-tomato toastie?'' ''Oh no,'' says the rabbit, ''I never mix up my toasties.''

Thank you, thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Tell your friends, she is here all week. ''Oh yes, that's a good one,'' Orton guffaws. ''I'm a genius.''

The point of that joke, though, is that no one believed Orton, who turns 41 next week, would tell it. Unfairly but doggedly, the reluctant Londoner (''God yes, I'm always talking about not living here but living in the country,'' she admits when I comment that she'll probably be carried out of her house in a box in 50 years) had a reputation that seemingly precluded levity of any sort." Click here to read more.