Orbital - Wonky (CD, Double vinyl LP, 7" vinyl)

Orbital blast back after an 8 year hiatus with a brand new album. They still have the lights on their glasses in case anyone was worried about that. The opening track is fairly impressive sounding not unlike the kind of electronica that spewed out on labels like City Centre Offices and Morr about 10 years ago. The second tune is more worrisome. Its tuneful again but shows little musical development and could have been made in the mid 90's. Track 3 slows down the tempo again with a tinkly ballad that finally comes to life half way through with more hi melody bleeps and bloops. Look, I'll level with you, I'm no Orbital fan, I have a general idea of what they do but have no idea of how this stands with previous work. A quick listen reveals that they still have enough 'chops' (chops - ha!) to see them through. Occasionally they visit a kind of nu-gaze sound and certainly 'New France' sounds very much like the sort of stuff Ulrich Schnauss and M83 vdo, driven along by U2 like bass and haunting synth it features the foghorn like voice of Zola Jesus and is obvious single material. So, hit and miss really but plenty of stuff that will sound ok along with the old stuff when the pack the Royal Festival Hall.