EXCLUSIVES

‘Blue' For Goodbye: Orbital Orbits into Solo Space

by Joshua Rotter
Photo Credit: Steve Double
April 2005

Techno legends Orbital broke ground in the mid-1990's, bringing underground dance music to the rock arena, by offering unified albums as opposed to mere singles collections and stadium-worthy musical performances. But now, after 15 years together, members and brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll feel their work as Orbital is done and look forward to equally formidable solo careers.

"It's a sort of attempt to do something different," Paul Hartnoll, 36, explained in a recent interview. "We wanted to stop before we were stale and jaded. We've said everything we wanted to say as Orbital. The last album was really good, because it felt fresh with a different kind of feel. But carrying on has too much baggage. Even now, being Orbital is a bit of a bind. There is so much expected of you as a band. But I'd rather start fresh. I found myself not enjoying touring, which may change in five years time. But if I can't put in 100 percent, then I'd rather not do it, because you can't give less to the fans.”

As a proper send-off, Orbital recently released the "Blue Album," made on a Mac G5 Geo processor, using Logic. "We were rounding out Orbital and finishing off and wanted to end it full circle," Hartnoll said. "The first two are color-oriented. The reason this one is 'Blue' is because we listened to it and asked what the dominant color is. ‘What does it sound like?' Blue is the color associated with goodbye rather than hello. Goodbye is a little sad. But it's not the reason. It's because there are cool, steely tones in it."

Free from record company expectations and schedules, their closing album is closer in character to their first album. "It's something we only realized afterwards," he said. "Our first album was a ‘Best of' of what we had done up to that point, a gigging set of tracks, which is why first albums are so strong, I think. For this album, we didn't sit down and write. We asked each other what we wanted to do and thought we'd finish up older tracks that we did not want to let go to the wayside. We had 15 left that we finished in order of preference, so it was a nice rounded album. So it was a summing up of the end rather than a beginning."

With help from Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance fame on “One Perfect Sunrise” and synth innovators Sparks for “Acid Pants” made the album a star-studded affair.

"Originally we asked Sparks to get involved with 'Acid Pants,' and they sent ideas,” he said. “We asked Sparks because we wanted someone a bit odd, which sounds rude, but you know what I mean, a bit left-of-center. We love them and it was fantastic to work with them.”

Natives of Dartford, Kent, England, both brothers were influenced by electro bands such as Sparks, began recording together in 1987 with a four-track, keyboards, and a drum machine. Recording and mastering their first track "Chime" onto a cassette tape for £2.50 into Jazzy M's pioneering house mix show “Jackin' Zone”.

By 1989, "Chime" was released as the premiere single on Jazzy M's label, Oh-Zone Records. The following year, ffrr Records signed the brothers and re-released the single under the name Orbital, a reference to the M25, the circular London expressway that club kids took to the outdoor raves during the Summer of Love.

"I don't remember the Summer of Love," Hartnoll admitted. "It's all a big haze. But people called the early 1990's, the second Summer of Love. It was too much acid for me, but I was not involved with Ecstacy, because it was too expensive. I went to free hippy festivals."