8:58 – The Clock
Do you know what time it is? Have you got time? Is the time right, or is it out of joint? And how do you know if it’s time to change? THE CLOCK starts to tick…..
THE CLOCK is the first single release from Paul Hartnoll, until recently one half of Orbital, Britain’s beloved electronic innovators and live techno pioneers who brought down the curtain on a 25-year career in 2014. It is a perfect introduction to an exciting new incarnation for Paul as 8:58 and his forthcoming eponymously- titled album.
THE CLOCK features ‘Peaky Blinders’ star Cillian Murphy on vocals as well as in the video. Paul and Cillian met when Paul, together with Flood and PJ Harvey, composed the wonderfully atmospheric soundtrack to the second series of the acclaimed BBC gangland drama.
“I’ve always been interested in time,” says Paul. “I’ve always had a thing for clocks, and for time as a powerful force — but also the way time oppresses you. It’s one of those things I keep coming back to.”
And he went back to it again after he and Phil Hartnoll separated last year. “Orbital had stopped working properly.” Paul explains. “We’d had a great four years since getting back together in 2008, but it was time to move on.” As Paul began to explore the new freedom of working alone, he kept returning to a doodle he has drawn since he was a teenager: a clock face with the time frozen at 8:58.
Elsewhere on the album are intriguing, twilit collaborations with Northumbrian folk clan The Unthanks, singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, folk singer Lisa Knapp, and Robert Smith of The Cure.
8:58 play selected live dates in the UK through May with a production that promises to be technically innovative and visually exciting. And, fans will be happy to know the set not only includes tracks from the new album but a good selection of Orbital classics too.
Tickets are on sale now at www.eightfiftyeight.com and tour dates are as follows:
09.05.15 Glasgow 02 ABC
10.05.15 Manchester Ritz
11.05.15 Norwich UEA
12.05.15 Oxford 02 Academy
13.05.15 Bristol 02 Academy
14.05.15 London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
