Settle-Carlisle Line train tour

This week I took a ride on the Settle-Carlisle Line which is surrounded by the amazing scenery of the Yorkshire Dales, a trip I've wanted to do for years! Took some very amateur photos and finally got round to joining Flickr so the pics are here.

Album Review: Orbital - Wonky

Starting out at 1980s raves in the Home Counties, dance veterans Orbital have survived big beat, the Criminal Justice Bill, several Glastonbury appearances and Ibiza superclubs and they’re still going. In over two decades their sound has evolved but always maintained the free-thinking spirit of their early work; they were also one of the first dance acts to regularly perform live. Now the Hartnoll brothers and their trademark torch glasses have returned with their eighth album after a few years working independently. The title is somewhat naff - but the music merits attention and draws richly on the duo’s past glories.

“Stringy Acid” picks up perfectly from “One Perfect Sunrise”, the final track on the Blue Album released eight years ago - it’s a huge shot of euphoria which will go down brilliantly at the band’s festival appearances this summer. It collapses abruptly into the next track “Beezledub” - here even Orbital aren’t immune from the current dubstep pandemic but it suits as a knowing follow-up to Satan, one of their first and now most famous tracks. However the screeching synths and the percussion breakdown remain in Chemical Brothers or Prodigy territory, rather than Skrillex.

There are weak moments - “Never” sounds pretty at first yet remains frustratingly vague - it lacks the clarity of purpose and sounds like someone impersonating Orbital; and title track “Wonky” is headache-inducing and isn’t helped by the feisty vocal contributions of Lady Leshurr.

“Distractions” is stunning bleepy, spacey techno with lurching synths and lush vocals. The thoughtful New Order-style rhythm underpinning single “New France” complements the soulful vocals by guest Zola Jesus well. Final track “Where Is It Going?” shifts between fluid and harsher, angular techno moods but never loses its way. The familiarity is in fact welcome and despite a few questionable patches, Orbital prove that they still know what they’re doing.

Originally published at Dale & Co.

Ladies and gentlemen we are in Hackney

On Monday I will mostly be watching Spiritualized (which I always find very hard to type).

The return of Orbital

Very excited about Wonky, the first album in a while by Orbital. This is New France:

Album Review: Fanfarlo - Rooms Filled With Light

Who are Fanfarlo? In 2006 they were a duo - Simon Balthazar and Giles J Davis - but the lineup has changed several times since. Davis left and Balthazar went on to accumulate a talented bunch of multi-instrumentalists for Reservoir, the band's self-released 2009 debut. Three years later they’re back with Rooms Filled With Light, which is part post-punk, part indie-pop, part almost everything, but is mostly incredibly enjoyable.

There’s a sense throughout the album that the band had big smiles on their faces recording these expansive, layered soundscapes. It begins with the urgent Replicate, alternating between spiky strings and keyboard sections and an insistent, more lyrical chorus. Deconstruction is earnest pop inspired by A-ha or the Human League, and it’s hard not to like the optimistic lyrics “it comes together again somehow”. Lenslife threatens to become something Belle and Sebastian would dismiss as too twee but it’s rescued by the punchy chorus. The track ends unexpectedly with languid sliding violin work by Cathy Lucas.

Fanfarlo are perhaps anxious not to appear too clever - despite tracks titled Replicate and Tunguska (referencing a meteoroid strike in Siberia). They give the game away halfway through the album on the short instrumental Everything Turns, a mesmerising piano and glockenspiel composition in the same vein as math-rockers Battles.

The sunshine peaks on Tightrope, a busy collage of playful harp runs, trumpet breaks, upbeat vocals, and then, in case you thought things were getting boring, an apocalyptic burst of orchestral chaos that could have been heard on A Day in the Life. Feathers has a similarly upbeat carnival atmosphere. Straight after comes Bones, a breather after the frenzy of the previous tracks. Here, as well as on the religious A Flood, there is more generous exposure for Baltazar’s vocals in the style of The Killers’ Brandon Flowers.

The songs here are catchy enough to provide instant enjoyment and the deployment of so many instruments means there are further delights to be found on repeated listening - Rooms Filled With Light is a fantastic combination of beauty and brains.

Originally published at Dale & Co.