William Orbit announces first album in over eight years

William Orbit has shared details of his first album of new material in eight years.

Out on 26th August, ‘The Painter’ includes a number of vocal collaborations with artists such as Beth Orton, Katie Melua, Ali Love and Georgia. Polly Scattergood guests on the 13-track album’s lead track, ‘Colours Colliding’, which you can listen to below.

On making the album, Orbit said in a statement: “I had been away from music making for some years, holed up in a beach town in California, painting, and writing about my life and reflecting on general observations. Then, back in London, inspiration struck with a vengeance. I was feeling the same spirit as I had in the mid-’90s.

“It was a blessing to have the exquisite contributions from the artists who appear on the album. And a thrill to explore new technologies. It is one of my very best, with the difference being gaining an understanding of a totally new landscape of means to present it to people’s ears.”

The album takes its name from a flyer that Orbit saw while making the record that read ‘vino and Van Gogh’. “You turn up, get drunk and mess around with cheap acrylics,” Orbit said. “I fell in love with it!”

He’s also described the record as “a very painty kind of album”. Adding that he has plans to tour the album, Orbit said of the process behind making the record: “I like making music again!”

A remix by William Orbit of Madonna will soon feature on a new retrospective compilation of the latter’s work.