Paul Hartnoll - Please feat. Robert Smith

Paul Hartnoll, one half of the pioneering dance brotherhood Orbital, is releasing his first solo album since he and Phil decided to call it a day, just after their T in the Park and Glastonbury performances of 2004. The second single, Please, is a collaboration with Robert Smith, the cuddly crybaby frontman of The Cure. Hartnoll said of Smith: "He's got that whiney-bendy voice which was a lot like the lead lines I'd written for that song," and we can vouch for that. Smith is the perfect choice for this track in all its guises. All the single formats have exclusive remixes, and no prizes for guessing the more dancefloor friendly ones are on the 12". From the sounds of it, Hartnoll's spent his time well in the years since we heard from him last, cultivating his electronic sounds and experimenting with full orchestration. With the promise of a new evolution of the Hartnoll sound to look forward to, and a chance to get more of the exhilarating rhythm and aural beauty of the mighty Orbital, can you resist? [James Blake]