On Fri, 3 May 1996, Eddie O'Hanlon, Ambient Mathematician wrote:
quoted 4 lines New Orbital album out called "In Sides". Rumours have it that it's> New Orbital album out called "In Sides". Rumours have it that it's
> their darkest and best yet. I had a feeling that their next after
> Sniv would be a good bet. When I finally get it, I'll review it.
> Mixmag just gave it Album of the Month. "Air 2" got that once....
I finally got a copy of this hot little item yesterday. After listening
to it twice, I can safely say it IS darker overall than any of their
previous albums, although there certainly were dark moments in their
earlier work.
Song structures are extended like Sniv, with track-to-track flow like the
brown album. The album version of "The Box" is a bit less embellished
than the single version, thankfully. The tracklisting for the CD:
1. The Girl With the Sun in Her Head
2. P.E.T.R.O.L.
3,4. The Box
5. Dwr Budr
6. Adnan's
7,8. Out There Somewhere
Supposedly this is a triple-vinyl set. Can anybody confirm this? I'd
include track times if I were near a player. They're not listed. Total
length is about 72 minutes.
1 and 6 are lovely, bright & evolving things reminiscent of the prettier
side of Sniv. 2 & 5 are darker, noiser tracks that seem overlong to me.
You know what to expect from the box. The last two tracks are another
Orbital epic, like "Are We Here", starting in a tense, off-the-wall mode
and gradually winding down into something quite pretty. As on Sniv,
Orbital seem to have traded the incredible tension and intricacy of
Lush-Impact-Remind for a more relaxed, Kraftwerkian emphasis on texture.
The cover is quite out of character. It looks like a Williams'
zombie-scape painted after a particularly heavy acid bender.
I like the album, and I expect it will grow on me, but I doubt it will take
the place of the brown album (which changed my life) in my heart. The
Hartnoll bros.' sound has evolved quite a bit since then, but I don't
think it's changed as quickly as the rest of the music and culture that
surrounds it.
For some reason this CD was incredibly expensive for a U.K. import ($28 US).