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Single Reviews
EP Review: William Orbit – Optical Illusions EP (Kobalt Digital)
By Marc Samuels | Published on Monday 20 April 2009
Although better known as a producer, William Orbit is a respected artist in his own right, not to mention an early pioneer in electronic dance music, with his Guerilla label, Strange Cargo series of electronica and the anthemic techno-pop of Bassomatic’s ‘Fascinating Rhythm’. It’s lazy to say that ‘Optical Illusions’ recalls his work on Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light album’ …but it’s also true. As the shimmering keyboards and simple acoustic guitar lines unfurl, you almost expect Madge herself to start singing, and in one respect it feels like an instrumental that would work better as a fully vocal track. But once that nagging doubt is put aside, ‘OI’ slowly asserts itself as a glistening piece of accessible downtempo. There’s an interesting remix package too – Orbit himself offers up the blissed-out Billy Buttons remix, whilst Aaron Jerome takes things into even more horizontal territory. Trenchman and Dr Meacker up both the tempo and the ante – the former going all progressive, with subtle hints of dubstep, whilst the latter turns in the best of the reinterpretations – a fiery piece of drum ‘n’ bass that loses none of the track’s melodic sensibility but actually gives it more impact via the aid of crunching beats and old skool piano riffs. MS
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