Blast Off to the Cosmos with William Orbit’s ‘Starbeam’

Electronic music pioneer William Orbit brings his spacey soundscapes to Anjunadeep with the release of the Starbeam EP.

William Orbit is one of the most influential artists to grace the music industry over the past four decades. His history includes producing some of the biggest tunes in the realm of pop, such as Madonna’s “Ray Of Light” and Blur’s “13,” while pushing the boundaries of electronic music as well. And in a true testament to his talents, he’s also won three Grammy Awards while being nominated for another five while working on albums for some of the world’s biggest artists from Queen to Britney Spears.

Although he’s lent his talents to the stars, it’s been seven years since William Orbit last released a solo body of work – but today, that’s changed as he delivered the Starbeam EP on Anjunadeep. This four-track release sees him flex his abilities as an innovator in electronic music by experimenting with classical and modern elements as he blasts listeners off into the outer reaches of space with his impeccable sound design fueling the ride.

Title track “Starbeam” begins the journey with soft piano notes almost acting as the start of the countdown for the engines kicking in. William Orbit layers in vocal and other elements – and as the synths take hold around the minute-thirty mark the build-up to blast off truly kicks in as spacey sounds swirl to further entice the senses. Within a matter of moments, you can easily close your eyes and find yourself floating in a zero-gravity environment looking down on the pale blue dot known as Earth.

“Wordsworth” arrives soon after to act as the second leg of this cosmic jaunt. It offers up beautiful tones in its intro before dropping into a vibe-fueled beat that you can help but groove along to when it graces your ears. The electric guitar licks add extra ambiance to the track as it breaks down into a rock meets electronica ride of the ages before William Orbit adds in some radio frequencies and washes the minds of listeners with alien-like sounds.

The next track, “Diso,” offers up a break in the action as you descend to an unknown planet to get down on the dancefloor to its energetic groove. The touch of breaks with the stunning piano notes and warbled synths really throw this one back to days of raves gone by, but perhaps there’s a rave revolution happening on that distant celestial body. A cosmic summer of love that is inviting all walks of life to dance under the stars.

Once you’ve boogied to your heart’s content, William Orbit looks to Lido Pimienta for the final tune, “Águilas.” The vocals are the standout on this one but don’t think for a second that there isn’t a wonderful beat filled with breaks-fueled energy to back them either. The combination of these two artists is a match made in heaven and is sure to keep any dancefloor moving until the next rotation around the sun.

The two bonuses on Starbeam come in the form of an extended mix of its title track by Shocklee and an instrumental cut of “Águilas” – but William Orbit went above and beyond on this as well. For the best listening experience possible, find this EP on a streaming platform that supports DOLBY Atmos, as this release was mastered to blow listeners away in a full 360 listening experience.

Listen to the Starbeam EP on Spotify or your preferred platform, and let us know what your thoughts are on this release from William Orbit in the comments!

Stream William Orbit – Starbeam EP on Spotify:

William Orbit – Starbeam EP – Tracklist:

Starbeam

Wordsworth

Diso

Águilas feat. Lido Pimienta

Starbeam (Extended Mix by Shocklee)

Águilas feat. Lido Pimienta (Instrumental Mix)

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