Orbital have unveiled the video to their new single, ‘Are You Alive’. Check it out below. 

A collaboration with acclaimed Bella Union signees Penelope Isles, also known as siblings Lily and Jack Wolter, the joint effort is the result of both outfits working in the same Brighton studio building. 

“They’re our studio mates, they work upstairs,” said Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll. “And they’ve both got amazing voices.

“’Are You Alive’ came about when I had the instrumental and felt it could do with a delicate vocal,” he continued. “Enter Penelope Isles. They took it away and Lily came up with some killer hooks, we spent a day rearranging the song and Hey Presto! ‘Are You Alive’ was born. But don’t be fooled by the sweetness of the sound, the lyrics have some bite. It’s a dog-eat-dog world…”
 
The track itself has roots stretching to a BBC 6Music project, ‘The Virus Diaries’. This involved Hartnoll and old schoolmate-turned-poet Murray Lachlan-Young turning in a new track every Wednesday during the pandemic. ‘Are You Alive’ was originally entitled ‘Garden Centre’, before the final vocals were introduced. 

Taken from the legendary UK dance veterans’ long-awaited tenth studio album, ‘Optical Delusion’, the full outing lands on 17th February. The release includes dark nursery rhyme infused breaks outing ‘Ringa Ringa (The Old Pandemic Folk Song)‘ featuring The Mediaeval Baebes, and ‘Dirty Rat’ — a highly politicised swipe at Tory rule, denial, self-sabotage and xenophobia in Britain via Sleaford Mods.

An extensive tour is set to follow. A full list of dates is below. Tickets are on sale now.  

Before announcing the new work, last year Orbital celebrated three decades at the vanguard of UK rave and electronic culture. ‘30 Something‘, a landmark retrospective release, boasts new versions of classic fare like ‘Chime’ and ‘Belfast’, with producers such as ANNA, David Holmes and Jon Hopkins involved.