Conscientiously original and removed from any ‘dance’ stifling genre label, ‘No sounds’ sees The Orb trip across the synth world in a brave search whilst placing experimentation ahead of predictability.
80s synth-driven, Pet Shop Boys sounding, in places (‘The end of the end’) ‘No’ takes you on a fantastic journey across soul, dance and, in moments, slowed trip-hop sounds. Picking you up, placing you on the dancefloor, and occasionally pulling the rug out from under you, this is interesting, original and difficult to predict.
Standout track ‘Rush Hill Road’ is a pop masterstroke, somehow combining a dancefloor banger with the greatest never-released girl-band song. If MTV still played music and championed feel good, beat-driven, songs for the summer they’d have all they need here. ‘No’ may be the best work in an already distinguished career. Brilliant.