Orbital

Orbital is a British techno and electronic group from Sevenoaks, United Kingdom. It consists of brothers Paul Hartnoll and Phil Hartnoll and has been active from 1989 to the present. The duo takes its name from the M25, Greater London’s orbital motorway, which is linked with the early rave scene in south-east England.

Early releases and breakthrough

Orbital forms in 1989 and first records Chime on their father’s cassette deck. The track appears first on Oh Zone Records and then on FFRR, where it becomes a rave anthem and reaches number 17 in the UK singles chart. It also brings them a performance on Top of the Pops, where they wear anti-Poll Tax T-shirts. Their early work draws on electro and punk rock.

The duo’s first self-titled album appears in 1991 and gathers tracks recorded at different times. Their 1992 Radiccio EP includes Halcyon, which becomes one of their best-known tracks. Halcyon + On + On, the later album version, uses a backwards sample of Kirsty Hawkshaw from Opus III’s It’s a Fine Day. The B-side The Naked and the Dead is also based on a Scott Walker line from Jacques Brel’s Next. Halcyon is dedicated to the Hartnolls’ mother, who is addicted to the tranquilliser Halcion for many years.

1990s albums and live reputation

Orbital 2 follows in 1993 and reaches number 28 on the UK albums chart, staying in the chart for fifteen weeks. It opens with Time Becomes, built from two slightly detuned looped samples of a Michael Dorn line from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The same sample appears at the start of The Mobius on the previous album, as part of a deliberate album-joke about mis-pressing.

Orbital wins an NME award for Vibes Best Dance Act in early 1994. Their Glastonbury headline set on 25 June 1994 becomes especially noted, and Q magazine later includes it among the 50 greatest gigs of all time. Q also places the group in its list of 50 bands to see before you die in 2002. Their live shows are known for on-the-fly mixing and sequencing, with the brothers performing behind banks of equipment and wearing head-mounted torches. They are also among the few electronic acts invited to play Woodstock ’94.

Snivilisation appears in 1994 and includes Alison Goldfrapp on vocals on several tracks, including Are We Here?, which also samples The Specials’ Man at C&A. A remix titled Criminal Justice Bill? consists of four minutes of silence, referring to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The following year brings only the Times Fly EP, which includes a remix of Sad But True.

The Box is released in 1996 and reaches number 11 in the UK singles chart. Its parent album, In Sides, arrives later that year and becomes a second top-five album for the group. The record shifts towards a less overtly dance-led sound and has more in common with soundtrack music. It is often regarded as one of Orbital’s most critically respected releases. The band continues with soundtrack work in 1997, including music for The Saint and Event Horizon. Their version of the The Saint theme and a live version of Satan both reach number 3 in the UK.

Later 1990s and 2000s

The Middle of Nowhere follows in 1999 and becomes their third top-five album. It returns to a more upbeat style and features Alison Goldfrapp again, along with the single Style, which uses stylophone. In 2000, Beached appears from The Beach soundtrack, combining Orbital’s style with an Angelo Badalamenti melody and words by Leonardo DiCaprio from the film.

The Altogether appears in 2001 and includes guest vocals from David Gray, a sampled Ian Dury, and a version of the Doctor Who theme called Doctor ?. It is their last album for FFRR and receives a mixed critical response. Work 1989-2002 follows in 2002 as a compilation of singles from Chime onwards.

Orbital splits up in 2004 and plays a final series of concerts that summer at Glastonbury, T in the Park, Oxegen and Wire Festival, ending with a Peel Session gig at Maida Vale Studios in London. Their seventh and final original album, the untitled Blue Album, is issued around the same period and includes Sparks on Acid Pants and Lisa Gerrard on the final single One Perfect Sunrise.

Solo work, reunion and later releases

After the split, Paul Hartnoll records under his own name, including music for Wipeout Pure on PSP and his first solo album, The Ideal Condition, on ACP in 2007. Phil Hartnoll forms the electronica duo Long Range with Nick Smith; their debut album, Madness and Me, comes out on their own Long Range Recordings label. Long Range later signs to Angel Artists. Phil Hartnoll lives in Brighton with his three sons, Louis, Milo and Conrad.

Orbital releases Orbital: Live at Glastonbury 1994-2004 in 2007, a two-CD/DVD set drawn from performances across a decade at the festival. In 2008, the group announces a reunion for a show called 20 years after Chime at the Big Chill Festival, and plays RockNess and other dates around the 20th anniversary tour in 2009. Orbital 20, also styled 20rbital, appears in 2009 as a two-CD collection of favourite tracks. A single, Don’t Stop Me / The Gun is Good, follows in 2010, and the duo performs the Doctor Who theme with Matt Smith at Glastonbury that year.

The band resumes recording and touring in the 2010s. Wonky appears in 2012 and includes collaborations with Zola Jesus and MC Lady Leshurr. Orbital also performs at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, playing Where Is It Going? with Stephen Hawking delivering a speech about the Large Hadron Collider. Later in 2012, the duo releases its soundtrack to the 2012 remake of Pusher, which includes vocals from Toni Halliday.

Orbital announces a split again in 2014, then reunites in 2017 and begins touring. That period brings Kinetic 2017, an updated remix of an early single, and the non-album single Copenhagen. Two previously unheard songs, Phuk and Tiny Foldable Cities, appear in late 2017 live shows, followed by The End is Nigh in 2018. Their album Monsters Exist is released in 2018 and features artwork by John Greenwood and a final track with physicist Brian Cox.

Orbital continues with a planned 30th anniversary compilation of updated versions of its songs, live performances including new tracks One Day and Treadmill, and a streamed performance for United We Stream and The Haçienda that supports people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Greater Manchester. In 2022, the duo composes and records the soundtrack for the Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate. Optical Delusion, the group’s tenth studio album, follows in 2023 and includes the single Dirty Rat with Sleaford Mods.

Themes and style

Orbital’s work often includes political and environmental references. Examples include Forever from Snivilisation, which uses a speech from Britannia Hospital; You Lot from the Blue Album, which samples Christopher Eccleston in an anti-genetic engineering passage; and The Girl With The Sun In Her Head, recorded using Greenpeace’s mobile solar power generator CYRUS. Other titles, such as Belfast, Kein Trink Wasser, Dŵr Budr and P.E.T.R.O.L., also point to social and environmental concerns.