Electric Orange

"Cyberdelic" (Album, 1996)

Delerium

If marks were awarded for cheesy packaging then Electric Orange would be nudging a 10. The sleeve and booklet look like they were put together by a trendy club flyer designer: photo montages of extremely 70s scenes with the two band members cut and pasted into them. But I think Electric Orange are guilty of some miss selling techniques. With that name, an album title like Cyberdelic, a back sleeve full of computer equipment and synthesizers, I was expecting a trippy, psychedelic take on electronica. In fact, this is more like some psychedelic form of easy listening, with its laid back jazz funk guitars, flutes, "bah, bah, dah" vocal harmonies, Eastern chanting, and hammond organs.

Most of the eleven tracks are instrumentals and the insane screaming vocals on Steal No Egg give me a sense of relief that this is the case. It rambles badly at times, some tracks wandering from one to another, but this is contrasted by some great entries. Highlights are the slow, slightly spacey groove of A Vaporised Dance and Funny In The Bathroom which would make ideal driving music when cruising around in a big and bouncy 70s Cadillac. Kirschen is closer to what I was expecting from this album with a very open, almost tense arrangement coming across like a piece of incidental film music. Altogether not bad for what it is - just don't ask me what it is. 6/10

Rob Dyer