P icking a favourite Orbital album is like telling one of your children, direct to their cherubic little face, that you prefer their brother because he’s, I dunno… catchier? In their vast body of cherished, inspiring, and celebrated work, the brothers Hartnoll (Paul ’n’ Phil) have delivered pioneering electronica since day dot. So, when you’ve got one of the iconic duo on a Zoom call, which album do you pick to talk about? Paul?
bad internet connection, “it was a toss up between In Sides and The Brown Album. But, while I love both of them, I think In Sides stands out for me a little bit more because it felt like an album that truly came from the heart.”
“I think for me,” he begins, sat in a studio with a surprisingly Fair play. It did have tracks tackling eco tragedies like Dwr Budr, about a Welsh coastal oil spill (not often a dance music subject, and a poorer scene because of it), and The Girl With The Sun In Her Head – atouching tribute to a lost childhood friend.
It’s also from the heart in the sense that it doesn’t feel overthought, or bridled by expectations, rules, or steered by the dead hand of an overthinking brain. Loose. More go-with-the-flow, with a go-fuck-yourself mentally. “Yeah,” agrees Paul, once I get him back on the line. “It just kind of spewed out, without really thinking about it. And it was about following your own zeitgeist, rather than anyone else’s. And just
