Orbital
De Montfort University, Leicester
The Guardian, 11 May 1996
Dance music is the most innovative genre around, but Orbital are leaving that behind. Six years on from their rave smash hit Chime, the Hartnoll's recent hit The Box was the most sinister record ever in the Top 20, a neo-symphonic soundtrack of creaks and twangs.
The duo here present a multimedia experience, a aural/visual sensurround of giant screens, airborne projections, dark sides of planets and pulsating beams and beats. Images of clocks and metronomes emphasised the urgency of melodies and a global sense of time running out; the word "uranium" appeared next to a human foetus, while elsewhere slogans such as "work" and "consume" provided gripping edutainment.
But the music was writ largest. Symphonic keyboard hooks crash in like sun rays, breathtaking in their beauty. Just as it seems Orbital couldn't possibly take us further, they returned to their roots with a pulverising display of hi-energy techno. Utterly deserving of their standing ovation, Orbital are creating the soundtrack to a freer-thinking generation.
Dave Simpson- The Guardian is published daily (except Sunday) in the UK.
- A Guardian website is available.
