The Orb will release a new album on Cooking Vinyl next year.

Abolition of the Royal Familia is 17th album from Alex Paterson and his rotating roster of collaborative cohorts. It forms part two of of pair, and a continuation No Sounds Are Out Of Bounds. It’s also the first with Paterson and Michael Rendall as main writing partners, with Rendall having risen-up-the-ranks from a member of The Orb’s touring band. The album features guest turns from Youth, Roger Eno, Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy, and a whole lot more.

The album is inspired by and in retrospective protest of the royal family’s historical endorsement of the East India Company’s opium trade, which was hugely damaging to India and caused two wars with China in the 18th and 19th centuries. We’re told to expect humour, samples, deep ambience, cerebral throbbing dub, classic house, hip-hop, psych, “heartbreakingly beautiful contemporary composition,” and also a “proudly pop element.”

“Hawk Kings” is a tribute to Steven Hawking, who told Paterson that he used to listen to The Orb when they met at a lecture. Paterson describes the track as “monster of a tune, in a similar mood to ‘Assassin’ and ‘Toxygene.'”

Tracklisting

01. Daze—Missing & Messed Up Mix
02. House Of Narcotics—Opium Wars Mix
03. Hawk Kings—Oseberg Buddhas Buttonhole
04. Honey Moonies—Brain Washed At Area 49 Mix
05. Pervitin—Empire Culling & The Hemlock Stone Version
06. Afros, Afghans and Angels—Helgö Treasure Chest
07. Shape Shifters (In Two Parts)—Coffee & Ghost Train Mix
08. Say Cheese—Siberian Tiger Cookie Mix Say Cheese – Siberian Tiger Cookie Mix
09. Ital Orb—Too Blessed To Be Stressed Mix
10. The Queen Of Hearts—Princess Of Clubs Mix
11. The Weekend It Rained Forever—Oseberg Buddha Mix (The Ravens Have Left The Tower)
12. Slave Till U Die No Matter What U Buy—L’anse Aux Meadows Mix

Abolition of the Royal Familia is out on March 27, 2020. Meanwhile, you can pre-order the album here, and stream “Pervitin” below.