One of techno's most celebrated and accomplished partnerships, the brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll trace their beginnings as Orbital back to the late 1980's, when their first single, "Chime" was released on Oh-Zone/FFRR and broke into the British Top 20 in the spring of 1990. The single was made in their garage using their father's four-track recorder and mastered directly onto cassette, but became a smash hit, giving them the momentum for a handful of other singles and their untitled first CD (the "green album") in 1991.
Their career took off in 1993-1994, with the release of the EPs "Lush" and "Radiccio" and their second untitled album (the "brown album"), which took the public by storm and made the UK Top 30. They also continued to hone their famous live act, which featured live projections, live musical arranging and sequencing on the fly, making their shows entertaining, improvised and truly "live". Their appearance at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival in the UK became the stuff of legend and cemented their reputation as one of the best techno groups of the 1990's. Their subsequent albums saw them taking a more varied, introspective angle to their music, while at the same time captivating audiences worldwide with their relentlessly energetic live shows. In addition to their own productions, they have done remixes for EMF, Queen Latifah, Meat Beat Manifesto, Madonna, Kraftwerk and more. More recently, they compiled a volume for the 'Back To Mine' series, released a retrospective compilation called 'Work', and put out the 'Blue Album'.
In mid-2004, Orbital released the single, "One Perfect Sunrise", and then seemingly split up for good.
However, after several years of solo production, Paul & Phil reunited in 2009, and a long series of live gigs followed, as well as the single, "Don't Stop Me" / "The Gun Is Good".
Orbital released the album "Wonky" in 2012.
On October 21st 2014, Orbital announced that they had split up for good again.