Soundtrack in my head: Orbital, “Illuminate”
I never followed Orbital’s career that closely. The electronic dance music band, consisting of brothers Phil and Paul Hartnell, have put together quite an extensive catalog of music over the last quarter century. I have a compilation of their releases called Orbital 20. Their music is sometimes harsh and almost always futuristic. While I don’t listen to them very much, I recently stumbled across a video of a 2001 song called “Illuminate” which I find myself watching repeatedly. It’s a very sweet song featuring David Gray singing vocals. Gray is actually a brother-in-law to the Hartnells–his wife Olivia is the sister of Phil Hartnell’s wife Rachel. An Orbital and David Gray combination would have never occurred to me since Gray is more of a folk singer and Orbital tends more towards techno and other types of electronica, but the pairing works beautifully in this case. The song makes me think about warmth in a world that often feels alien, and it always puts me in a good mood. I hope you enjoy it.
