review by Mike Bond

PAUL HARTNOLL FEAT. ROBERT SMITH - PLEASE

"A glorious, inspired sounding single, PLEASE finds Paul Hartnoll delivering the first moment of genius in his solo career so far; a delicious, brilliant electro pop song."

Track Listing > >

Please / Old School Tie / Please 44 (Culprit 1 Remix) / Please (Statik
Remix) / Please (KGB Remix) / Please (Remember 1992?) (PH Remix) / Please (The Whip Remix) / Please (Boss Boss Remix) / Please (Delafonz Remix) KIDS

The teaming up of Paul Hartnoll and Robert Smith may be an unlikely and unexpected idea, but as PLEASE swiftly attests too, also an inspired and welcome one. Goth icon and frontman with the Cure, Robert Smith is hardly the first name that springs to mind when thinking of vocalists to work with former Orbital knob twiddler Paul Hartnoll.
With PLEASE though, this is a pairing that throws up some wonderful and playful results, a glorious sounding pop tune that pushes both men to deliver their finest performances in years; Smith delivering delicious vocals over Hartnoll's various blips, bleeps and beats. Of the many remixes, its perhaps The Whip who offer up the cream of the crop, with a dark, throbbing electro build up that almost manages to improve on the original; though special mentions should also go out to KGB's delicate post rocking take on matters and the Boss Boss version which injects sparse piano chords and dark electronica into the mix.
A glorious, inspired sounding single, PLEASE finds Paul Hartnoll delivering the first moment of genius in his solo career so far; a delicious, brilliant electro pop song.

BIOGRAPHY
Between these extremes The Ideal Condition takes a remarkable journey into the realms of the possible while also recalling the familiar aspects of Paul’s previous recordings. “This album’s got a lot of film influences on it,” says Paul, “all the old favourites the Michael Nymans, the John Barrys, Ennio Morricone, and you can hear a lot more of Danny Elfman on this one, I think. But it still finds its way back to the rhythm. I’m always trying to find a harmonic or melodic narrative-if you like going with the emotional side of it-and then as soon as that starts happening it’s like a gut instinct I can’t stop myself thundering in with the drumbeats. I almost do it for fun. Sometimes I manage not to, but I bet you on all the ones where I’ve managed not to I’ve tried it and it didn’t work!”
When “the emotional side” wins out the results, like the almost “synth-free”
composition for strings ‘Dust Motes,’ are extraordinary. More remarkable still is that The Ideal Condition is an album where such songs sit comfortably with the punkish electronic squall of tracks like ‘Aggro.’
One attribute Paul carries over from his Orbital days is his nose for a great collaborator. Guests on the album include The Cure’s Robert Smith on the forthcoming single “Please.” “He’s got that whiney-bendy voice which was a lot like the lead lines I’d written for that song. I wanted someone who could do that naturally so I asked him, and he was up for it.” In addition to Metro Voices choir vocal contributions are also present from U.S singer songwriter Joseph Arthur (“Aggro”), Brighton’s Lianne Hall (“For Silence”) and South London’s Akayzia Parker (“Nothing Else Matters.”)
>From what Paul calls the “Boadicea moment” of the album’s opener to the
“steam driven synthesiser” of “Simple Sounds” via the old school electro of “Patchwork Guilt” and the neo-classical coda of “Dust Motes”, The Ideal Condition is a vivid testament to the scope and sensibility of one of modern music’s most innovative and resourceful minds.

LINE UP
Paul Hartnoll
Robert Smith

DISCOGRAPHY
PLEASE (Kids>2007)
Please
Old School Tie
Please 44 (Culprit 1 Remix)
Please (Statik Remix)
Please (KGB Remix)
Please (Remember 1992?) (PH Remix)
Please (The Whip Remix)
Please (Boss Boss Remix)
Please (Delafonz Remix)

LINKS
Kids>www.kidsthelabel.co.uk

FURTHER LISTENING
Orbital
The Cure
The Chemical Brothers

Review date: April 2007