Snivilisation

Dave Walker

Boy, the prerelease stories we heard about this one... "it's gonna be a jungle record!" and "they're big Crass fans so there'll be lots of guitars!"

Instead, the first non-eponymous Orbital album is (surprise, surprise) an Orbital album. Sure, the bits and pieces are in different places, and the Hartnoll brothers pull some new tricks out of their bags, but this record is composed with the same attention to melody and detail as their earlier ones, though they do venture away from the swirly cathedrals of sound that they're best known for.

I'm also happy to note that, unlike so many of their contemporaries, Orbital have not given up on rhythm -- indeed, on this front the album takes some of its biggest chances: as on the jungle-derived rhythm track on Are We Here and the space conga of Sad But True. Not everything works, (Quality Seconds bites, but it's only 90 seconds long) but the hit ratio is good.

While there's no immediate standout as obvious as the Lush/Impact/Remind suite from the brown album, the album has plenty of charms to reward repeated listening: the panoramic sweep of Are We Here, the jazz-inflected vibe sounds on Science Friction, and the nice melodic touches on Kein Trink Wasser are but a few examples.

dave walker, detroit art services

• Contact Dave at marmoset@msen.com
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[ Also: Select Magazine, Melody Maker and Tobias Peggs reviews ]