The Orb — the long-running and prolific electronic project helmed by Alex Paterson — are set to return in 2020, announcing their new album Abolition of the Royal Familia.
The record arrives March 27 via Cooking Vinyl, marking the Orb's 17th studio album and the proper follow-up to 2018's No Sounds Are Out of Bounds.
While the album isn't due out until next year, you can hear the newly shared album cut "Pervitin (Empire Culling & The Hemlock Stone Version)" below.
As a press release explains, this marks the first Orb album to feature Paterson and Michael Rendall as main writing partners. It also features production from Youth, who also helmed No Sounds Are Out of Bounds.
In addition to that core unit, Abolition of the Royal Familia features a series of guests, including Roger Eno, Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy (Gong, System 7) and David Harrow. The album also features Paterson's dog Ruby, in addition to a 17-year-old trumpet player named Oli Cripps (whom Paterson met at a local record shop) and Paterson's cousin Leyton on whistle, among other guests.
A press release explains the following of the new record's theme:
The album is in part inspired by and in retrospective protest of the royal family's historical endorsement of the East India Company's opium trade, which was hugely damaging to India and caused two wars with China in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Humour, samples, deep ambience, cerebral throbbing dub, classic house, the white island, hip hop, psych and heartbreakingly beautiful contemporary composition are recognizably present, as is, perhaps less expectedly, a proudly pop element.
Down below, you can see the tracklist for the new album.
Abolition of the Royal Familia:
1. Daze (Missing & Messed Up Mix)
2. House of Narcotics (Opium Wars Mix)
3. Hawk Kings (Oseberg Buddhas Buttonhole)
4. Honey Moonies (Brain Washed at Area 49 Mix)
5. Pervitin (Empire Culling & The Hemlock Stone Version)
6. Afros, Afghans and Angels (Helgö Treasure Chest)
7. Shape Shifters (In Two Parts) (Coffee & Ghost Train Mix)
8. Say Cheese (Siberian Tiger Cookie Mix)
9. Ital Orb (Too Blessed to Be Stressed Mix)
10. The Queen of Hearts (Princess of Clubs Mix)
11. The Weekend It Rained Forever (Oseberg Buddha Mix [The Ravens Have Left the Tower])
12. Slave Till U Die No Matter What U Buy (L'anse Aux Meadows Mix)
The record arrives March 27 via Cooking Vinyl, marking the Orb's 17th studio album and the proper follow-up to 2018's No Sounds Are Out of Bounds.
While the album isn't due out until next year, you can hear the newly shared album cut "Pervitin (Empire Culling & The Hemlock Stone Version)" below.
As a press release explains, this marks the first Orb album to feature Paterson and Michael Rendall as main writing partners. It also features production from Youth, who also helmed No Sounds Are Out of Bounds.
In addition to that core unit, Abolition of the Royal Familia features a series of guests, including Roger Eno, Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy (Gong, System 7) and David Harrow. The album also features Paterson's dog Ruby, in addition to a 17-year-old trumpet player named Oli Cripps (whom Paterson met at a local record shop) and Paterson's cousin Leyton on whistle, among other guests.
A press release explains the following of the new record's theme:
The album is in part inspired by and in retrospective protest of the royal family's historical endorsement of the East India Company's opium trade, which was hugely damaging to India and caused two wars with China in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Humour, samples, deep ambience, cerebral throbbing dub, classic house, the white island, hip hop, psych and heartbreakingly beautiful contemporary composition are recognizably present, as is, perhaps less expectedly, a proudly pop element.
Down below, you can see the tracklist for the new album.
Abolition of the Royal Familia:
1. Daze (Missing & Messed Up Mix)
2. House of Narcotics (Opium Wars Mix)
3. Hawk Kings (Oseberg Buddhas Buttonhole)
4. Honey Moonies (Brain Washed at Area 49 Mix)
5. Pervitin (Empire Culling & The Hemlock Stone Version)
6. Afros, Afghans and Angels (Helgö Treasure Chest)
7. Shape Shifters (In Two Parts) (Coffee & Ghost Train Mix)
8. Say Cheese (Siberian Tiger Cookie Mix)
9. Ital Orb (Too Blessed to Be Stressed Mix)
10. The Queen of Hearts (Princess of Clubs Mix)
11. The Weekend It Rained Forever (Oseberg Buddha Mix [The Ravens Have Left the Tower])
12. Slave Till U Die No Matter What U Buy (L'anse Aux Meadows Mix)
