FFRR, 1991
Funny, then, that it all begins with a ‘Chime’. Orbital’s legendary track was indeed the sound of something new being announced and ushered in – the arrival of the brothers Hartnoll, and a new age of dance music. Industry bods took note of the UK’s answer to Rhythim Is Rhythim’s Strings of Life, and the next sound was chequebooks being flung open. As the dust settled, Phil and Paul Hartnoll signed with Pete Tong’s FFRR, as advances were dangled.
“I was over the moon,” says Paul “I could live for a year and a half off that money. Before, I’d been dishwashing. Now, we could concentrate on making music full-time, and buy some gear.”
Putting in studio shifts in their newly kitted-out space in their parents’ pub, Phil and Paul got to work putting together one of the most seminal debuts in dance music history.
“I couldn’t believe that we could just write music all day,” says Paul, with regards to the pair jamming out live sessions, adding soon-to-be iconic melodies and drum programming in on-the-fly.
“We didn’t have any multi-tracking equipment,” he says. “So, we’d get everything working in the studio and just run it out, live. Any manipulation or synth magic would happen as it was going down. And, if you didn’t like it, you’d do it again.”
Inspired by a love of early Warp records, chugging Chicago house and choice Belgian new beat, the siblings sonically experimented with their new Korg Wavestation, Oxford OSCar, and their workhorse 303 – all the while, propelled by fuel from their favourite fast food joint. “We’d always nip out to Hei’s Chinese food and fish and chip takeaway,” says Phil. “That really kept us going.” Full of vegetable chow mein, egg-fried rice, chips and “the best curry sauce in the universe”, the pair worked until each track was done.
“That was just how you did it, back then,” says Paul. “You might not get that same sound again the next day. So, we’d do long sessions. Many times, going to bed at seven in the morning.
But, we loved it.”
Orbital’s self-titled debut, aka ‘The Green Album’, is now available as a brand new, remastered boxset, via London Records.
Track by track with Phil and Paul Hartnoll
Paul Hartnoll: “I remember the feeling of meeting at our parents’ house and working from there, because they ran a pub. That was our HQ. I just remember arriving with that really warm, glowing feeling of – God, this is our day job now, writing music.
“When we started this track, I just remember it being the morning time. And it feeling really strange that it was valid, that you could just write music all day.”
Phil Hartnoll: “We used the [Korg] Wavestation for this track. There’s a lot of the Wavestation here.”
Paul Hartnoll: “Yeah, lots of Wav
