William Orbit
William Orbit

William Orbit preps new album ft. Beth Orton, Lido Pimienta, & more (listen to "Colours Colliding")

William Orbit, the electronic musician and producer whose credits include Madonna’s Ray of Light and Blur’s 13, has announced The Painter, which will be out August 26 via Warner Records. The album features vocals from Beth Orton, Georgia, Lido Pimienta, Katie Melua, Natalie Walker, Polly Scattergood, Ali Love, Gloria Kaba and Laurie Myer. “I’m so incredibly happy with it,” Orbit says. “The last year has been the most creative time I can think of. New toys, new collaborators, new relationships; there are tracks on this album that are up there with my best.”

The album is his first in eight years and follows a period of his life where, entering his 60s, he took up painting…and drugs. “I’d always been quite drug-averse,” he recalls. “Then one day I was at a New Year’s party, and I thought I’d try some cocaine. I recall joking to everyone: ‘Remember this in a year, when I’m in rehab!’ And then I thought: ‘Hmm, this is rather nice.” Orbit suffered a psychotic break at a festival and bottomed out later when, according to his official biography for this album, he barricaded himself in his home while “convinced he was working for the royal family and in danger of being assassinated by the Church of England.”

Once he got away from mind-altering substances, his wits returned, as did his interest in music. “I had been away from music making for some years, holed up in a beach town in California, painting, and writing about my life and reflecting on general observations,” says Orbit. “Then, back in London, inspiration struck with a vengeance. I was feeling the same spirit as I had in the mid-’90s.”

The first single from The Painter is “Colours Colliding,” an ethereal number featuring Polly Scattergood on lead vocals. You can listen to that, and check out The Painter‘s tracklist and cover art, below.

Related: Beth Orton has a new album on the way, too.

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The Painter:
1. Duende (feat. Katie Melua)
2. Bank of Wildflowers (feat. Georgia)
3. I Paint What I See (feat. Beth Orton)
4. Heshima kwa Hukwe (feat. Hukwe Zawose)
5. Nuestra Situación (feat. Lido Pimienta)
6. The Diver (feat. Natalie Walker)
7. Colours Colliding (feat. Polly Scattergood)
8. Gold Coast
9. Second Moon
10. Promethean Lies (feat. Ali Love)
11. Planet Sunrise
12. No Other World (feat. Beth Orton)
13. Free Glo (feat. Gloria Kaba and Laurie Mayer)