Paul Hartnoll
Hi this is Paul Hartnoll - of Orbital - download for free the single Please from my new album "The Ideal Condition". Just fill out a simple form to download the track in hi quality. http://www.blinque.co.uk/paulhartnoll
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
Recordings presents The Ideal Condition, the solo album from Paul Hartnollhis first major release since he and his brother disbanded their group, Orbital, three years ago. From their early success with, 'Chime' in 1990, Orbital became one of the most acclaimed electronic artists of the next decade. They made seven albums, and their live shows ground breaking both in terms of performance and production became a legendary fixture of the festival circuit around the world and particularly at Glastonbury, where they performed for the final time in 2004. Work on The Ideal Condition began that same summer. I wanted to do something different from what Id done before, that was the point of not doing Orbital, says Paul, It just took time to discover exactly what that was
What evolved, whilst recalling the cinematic sensibilities and crowd-shaking rhythms of Pauls earlier work, is a collection of songs that takes those instincts and moves them into new and at times experimental terrain. I started trying to piece it together like a novel, each song being a chapter and building it up in the same way a plot line might do. I cant honestly say it has a narrative from beginning to end, although it does strangely feel like a concept album without a concept. The most obvious conceptual shift is that the balance of this record is tipped in favour of acoustic (as opposed to electronic) sounds. As Paul explains, I wrote the whole album and then realised there were aspects of this that werent gonna work unless it was done with real instruments.
With arranger Chris Elliott, Paul set about reversing the usual process whereby electronic music might mimic the sounds of traditional instruments and presented his compositions to an orchestra. Its intimidating at first. Youre looking at 40 people-virtuoso string players and thinking, Im now going to ask you to play two notes for five minutes, and you think theyre going to turn round and say, this is ridiculous! But they dont. Theyre all very discreet, they just get on with it.
The fruits of this union-full orchestra, 32 piece choir and the whole compliment of electronics are heard to dramatic effect on the albums opener, Havent We Met Before,the fullest track on the record in terms of the amount of people playing on it and number of different parts. Its a deliberately grand opening and one that contrasts with later songs like Patchwork Guilt, the only track on the album thats entirely electronic and entirely played by me.
Between these extremes The Ideal Condition takes a remarkable journey into the realms of the possible while also recalling the familiar aspects of Pauls previous recordings. This albums got a lot of film influences on it, says Paul, all the old favourites the Michael Nymans, the John Barrys, Ennio Morricone, and you can hear a lot more of Danny Elfman on this one, I think. But it still finds its way back to the rhythm. Im always trying to find a harmonic or melodic narrative-if you like going with the emotional side of it-and then as soon as that starts happening its like a gut instinct I cant stop myself thundering in with the drumbeats. I almost do it for fun. Sometimes I manage not to, but I bet you on all the ones where Ive managed not to Ive tried it and it didnt work!
When the emotional side wins out the results, like the almost synth-free composition for strings Dust Motes, are extraordinary. More remarkable still is that The Ideal Condition is an album where such songs sit comfortably with the punkish electronic squall of tracks like Aggro.
One attribute Paul carries over from his Orbital days is his nose for a great collaborator. Guests on the album include The Cures Robert Smith on the forthcoming single Please. Hes got that whiney-bendy voice which was a lot like the lead lines Id written for that song. I wanted someone who could do that naturally so I asked him, and he was up for it. In addition toMetro Voices choir vocal contributions are also present from U.S singer songwriter Joseph Arthur (Aggro), Brightons Lianne Hall(For Silence)and South Londons Akayzia Parker (Nothing Else Matters.)
From what Paul calls the Boadicea moment of the albums opener to the steam driven synthesiser of Simple Sounds via the old school electro of Patchwork Guilt and the neo-classical coda of Dust Motes, The Ideal Condition is a vivid testament to the scope and sensibility of one of modern musics most innovative and resourceful minds.
