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 –
