Halcyon days

I wonder why it was called the 'Brown Album'?

I'm not sure whether this is a post about an album or just one song, because Orbital's Brown Album contains one of my top five (impossible to narrow it down further, believe me I've tried) electronic tracks of all time: Halcyon +on +on.


The swirling vocals are by Kirsty Hawkshaw, sampled from Opus III's early 90s rave classic 'Fine Day'. Repetitive looped voice samples are a feature of this album, but nowhere are they used quite as devastatingly as on Halcyon. Haunting, cinematic, touching, rarely has dance music sounded quite so emotional. Not surprising when you consider that the track was supposedly inspired by the Hartnoll brothers' own mother's addiction to tranquilisers.

Unsurprisingly too, its sweeping, bittersweet sonics have appeared on countless movie soundtracks, usually at the point of conclusion when battle is done. It's a sad fact that most electronic music doesn't age well but Halcyon, released twenty years ago in 1993, sounds as fresh as a daisy growing on a newly laid camomile lawn.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure the same can't be said for one of the films it featured in: Mortal Kombat. I'll let you decide...