ORBITAL

Optical Delusion (London)

On their 10th studio album Optical Delusion, Orbital are all over the place with their electronic styles, from electro to techno and trance – but that’s a good thing.  Brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll give us their response to lockdown, loss, separation and life going forward, and guest vocalists including Anna B Savage, Dina Ipavic and Penelope Isles only enhance the music by humanising it.

The scale goes from the eerily soothing Ringa Ringa (The Old Pandemic Folk Song) – featuring The Mediaeval Baebes, this is Orbital’s take on Ring O’Roses, the nursery rhyme that emerged from the Black Death plague – to Dirty Rat, the pounding, politically scathing single collaboration with Sleaford Mods. The only disappointing tracks are You Are The Frequency and What A Surprise: both are robotic and cold, and feel like a step backward, like being in a bad Star Wars ripoff. Overall, though, with Optical Delusion the still-relevant ravers continue to plug us in.

words RHONDA LEE REALI