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Orbital were one of dance music’s true innovators. In fact the sounds they created often pushed the phrase dance music to the limits. It was simply excellent electronic music. With Long Range, Phil Hartnoll has built on the Orbital sound and, perhaps learning from the success of peers such as the Chemical Brothers, brought in a range of vocalists to create a more varied sound.

Intro track ‘Lie Down’ incorporates a haunting female vocal and, to start with, bears more than a passing resemblance to The Orb’s ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ (which was a high point of that band’s legendary Glastonbury appearance in 1993). Other tracks, such as the title track, give nods to artists such as Lamb and Massive Attack, and weave strings and other more organic elements into the blissed out electronica which Hartnoll is renowned for.

On the excellent ‘Run With The Rain’ however, the nod becomes a veritable head-butt, as the influence of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ oozes out of every note. But, as with good cover versions, ‘Run With The Rain’ builds on its influences, making it a much harder electronic tune than ‘Sympathy’.

The harder sound is also heard on tracks such as ‘Which Way Now’, which is like the ASBO ridden younger brother of Orbital’s ‘Belfast’, while ‘Your Face’ is a brave attempt to pull off a rock sound. Unfortunately, like Moby’s efforts in the same area, it doesn’t quite come off, sounding like the b-side of a bad 90s electro-rock act.

Overall, Hartnoll has obviously taken the opportunity of leaving Orbital and hooking up with soundtrack artist Nick Smith, to try new things and play around with the confines of electronica. But while there are several stand-out tracks, I’m still not sure that I can imagine any of them converting a whole field, the way ‘Chime’ did way back in 1994. But he and Smith should certainly be applauded for trying, and if nothing else it prompted me to dig out the live version of ‘Chime’ from their Glastonbury set: it, unlike ‘Your Face’, rocks.

Links:
Long Range Official Site
Long Range on MySpace