Daybreaker

Daybreaker was released in July 2002 on Heavenly and Astralwerks. It reached number 8 in the UK and number 40 on the Billboard 200, earned a Brit nomination for best British female and a Q Award nomination for best album. Victor Van Vugt produced it, with additional production from Ben Watt. Johnny Marr co-wrote Concrete Sky, and Ryan Adams co-wrote This One's Gonna Bruise and played on several tracks.

Orton told Insound in July 2002 that the band recorded 25 songs in two weeks and that ten ended up on the record because they captured the mood best. Mojo called it her best to date, while Pitchfork was unimpressed and said the emotional attachment of Central Reservation had vanished. In 2009 she named the period around Daybreaker as the low point of her career, when she fell out of love with what she did. A compilation, Pass in Time: The Definitive Collection, followed in 2003 and reached number 45 in the UK.