Electronic Sound Magazine FREE Sample Issue Special Issue

It’s taken Orbital more than 30 years to get to their 10th studio album and what a journey it’s been. Right from their 1989 debut single, the gently acidic and effortlessly hypnotic ‘Chime’, Phil and Paul Hartnoll demonstrated a natural talent for matching shiny beats with shimmering melodies. So while the pair were viewed as leading lights of the rapidly expanding UK rave scene, the widescreen wonder of their early records put them in a totally different league to most of the hands-in-the-air brigade. Can you feel it? Oh yes. With bells on.

The scale of Orbital’s ambition became more clear as they started to release albums. First the green one, then the brown one, then ‘Snivilisation’, then ‘In Sides’, each record a step on from what had come before. They’ve continued to deliver the goods in more recent times, with ‘Wonky’ in 2012 and ‘Monsters Exist’ in 2018, and let’s not forget that they’ve always been a phenomenal live act too. The duo’s celebrated headlining performance at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival was by no means a one-off. A talking point of their gigs has long been the Hartnolls’ torch glasses, of course, initially worn for purely practical reasons but a little touch that made them instantly recognisable.

And so to 2023 and that 10th Orbital album. It’s called ‘Optical Delusion’, it’s bloody terrific, and we think putting Orbital on the cover is a great way to start the year. As you’d expect, Phil and Paul speak at length about their new record in our feature, but they also muse on the wide-ranging influence of rave culture and delve into some of the reasons behind their legendary spats. We have a superb Orbital seven-inch to accompany this issue of the magazine as well, a remix of the gorgeous and timeless ‘Belfast’ by David Holmes, who played a key role in the original release of the track back in 1990. See page 7 for full details of that.