The Orb "The Dream"

Artist: The Orb
Album: The Dream
Label: Traffic Inc.
Release date: 29 August 2007
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient Techno/Dub/Downtempo
RIYL: The Future Sound Of London, Orbital, Leftfield

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Tracklisting:
01. The Dream (The Future Academy Of Noise, Rhythm And Gardening Mix)
02. Vuja De
03. Something Supernatural
04. A Beautiful Day
05. DDD (Dirty Disco Dub)
06. The Truth Is...
07. Phantom Of Ukraine
08. Mother Nature
09. Lost & Found
10. The Forest Of Lyonesse
11. Katskills
12. High Noon
13. Sleeping Tiger & The Gods Unknown
14. Codes
15. Orbisonia
16. Let the Music Set You Free
Total running time: 79' 56"

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[The Orb - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

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[The Orb - Vuja De - Video Clip]

"The Dream sees the reunion of long-term friends and collaborators Alex Paterson and Martin ‘Youth’ Glover, working together under the Orb umbrella for the first time in fifteen years. The pair met at school in the seventies, then, while Youth gained famed as part of post punk outfit Killing Joke, Paterson followed as a roadie for the band. The pair went on to set up W.A.U.! Records and work together, alongside Jimmy Cauty, and later on Kris ‘Thrash’ Weston, on the two first Orb albums. While they remained friends over the year, it wasn’t until Youth set up a brand new studio at the end of his garden a couple of years ago that the pair began working on a new project.

Drenched in fluid dub pulses, overactive layered samples and polymorphic grooves, The Dream, introduced by the Future Academy Of Noise, Rhythm And Gardening, captures the spirit of early Orb in a way not heard since Orblivion. The lush sonic tapestry that unfolds past the guitar motif in the opening sequence of the album has the welcoming feel of a treasured retreat. As the warm pulsating bass kicks in and vocal samples burst out from all sides, wrapped up around the main melody to the point of obliterating it, the Paterson/Youth machine appears fully back in motion. The anthemic Vuja De, featuring vocal contribution from Aki Omori, who previously contributed to Cydonia, hesitate for a moment between the rich soundscapes of its predecessor and progressive pop before settling for unadulterated electronic bliss.

But it is in its middle section that The Dream really hits hard. Once the breezy formations of A Beautiful Day cleared, the album dives deeper into kaleidoscopic grooves, first with the greasy DDD (Dirty Disco Dub), then with the liquid The Truth Is…, which makes good use of a well known Orb hook . Then, it is the turn of the heavy dancehall-infused Mother Nature and ragga flavoured Lost & Found to assert the pair’s chemically fuelled dance floor credential. After that, the pair return to gentler territories and drop a series of beautiful hypnotic compositions, first on Katskills, where they combine ethnic percussions and vocal samples on ever changing patterned backdrops, then with the warm and uplifting High Noon. Codes and Orbisonia bring The Dream down to a gentle close. While the surface gloss of the former is eventually broken by erupting electronics, the peaceful nocturnal ambience of the latter echoes some of the most chilled moments of The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld.

A far cry from the desolate minimal techno of Okie Dokie, which Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann released in 2005 on German imprint Kompakt, The Dream is a lush and groovy offering which, although never reaching the heady heights of U.F.Orb, manages to show that there is life in the old beast yet." [themilkfactory]

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