William Orbit
Strange Cargo III

The year was 1998 when Madonna released her work, in my opinion, her most successful, "Ray Of Light".

When I listened to that album, I was immediately struck by the stunning sound emanating from all the tracks. I immediately went to read the production notes (musicians, producers, sound engineers, etc...) and noticed that most of the album had been produced by a certain William Orbit. I had already heard of him as the author of some remixes but, until now, I had never heard an album produced by him.

This figure intrigued me to the point that I began to scour the web to find as much information as possible about his previous works. I discovered that the person in question had an impressive resume both as a producer (Madonna, Blur, All Saints, Finley Quaye, Pink, Caroline Lavelle, etc...) and as a composer (Bass-O-Matic, Torch Song).
Last year I purchased a Beth Orton collection containing "Water From A Vine Leaf", a track from the album "Strange Cargo III" by William Orbit. It was love at first listen!

Within a few months, I got hold of the aforementioned CD which fully confirmed what I had already heard. There are twelve tracks on the disc: it starts with the beautiful "Water From a Vine Leaf", a perfect example of "trance music" with a vocal intervention by Beth Orton, then continues with the unsettling "Into The Paradise" where a heavenly voice peeks out over an infernal bass line. Next is "Time To Get Wize", which, starting from a "hip hop" base, invites us to reflect on the world's ills and closes with a successful electric guitar intervention. After "Harry's Flowers", which I personally find a bit soporific (in fact, I hardly ever listen to it), the disc returns in full swing with the splendid "A Touch Of The Night", then continues with three milestones, "The Story Of Light", "Gringatcho Demento", and "A Hazy Shade Of Random", the latter infused with a strong ethnic component like the following "Best Friend, Paranoia" (an extra point for the title). Following closely are "The Monkey King", "Deus Ex Machina", two very experimental pieces (read less catchy) but not for this reason any less beautiful than the preceding ones, and the final instrumental "Water Babies" which recalls "Time To Get Wize".

What immediately strikes you, upon the first listen of these electronic compositions, is the sound which is often categorized as electro-ambient, although this definition seems a bit too reductive to me; I would rather call it "Orbit-sound". But what surprised me the most was the release date of this album: 1993!

I thought it had been produced in the twenty-first century!