OFTEN described as the Pink Floyd of the Nineties, The Orb traded more recently as remix specialists of choice, to ‘pay the bills’, according to founder Alex Paterson.
But the band have also been trundling out their own albums, most impressively last year’s Moonbuilding 2703 AD, which many consider their finest offering in two decades.
Of course this means Chill Out World has quite a lot to live up to. As you might expect, it’s unmistakeably Orb-like; away with the fairies, post-drug trip fare, lashings of sound effects, that sort of thing. Sadly COW, for short, is all a bit single paced.
As a chill-out album that comes as no surprise, but honestly it never gets going. You find yourself shuffling between the ten numerically pun-worthy tracks – Siren 33, 4am Exhale, 7 Oaks, get the drift? – without ever really knowing which you’ve landed on.
At 3am in a hipster night club, Chill Out World would be just what the doctor ordered. At 3pm on a rainy winter afternoon it’s anything but.
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