4AM EXHALE. While their signature stoner humor is still intact in song titles like “Just Because I Really Really Luv Ya” and “First, Consider The Lillies”, The Orb have matured quite a bit since “Little Fluffy Clouds” (I would hope so, it’s been 27 years) and sound right at home on Wolfgang Voigt’s esteemed Kompakt imprint. COW / Chill Out, World! is a mostly beatless affair, and the earthy, textural tracks share more in common with Voigt’s work as GAS than U.F.Orb. Orb (they dropped the “The”) have transcended the chillout room into a moodier zone better fit for a 4 A.M. drunken walk home through snowy Kreuzberg. Fans of GAS, Vladislav Delay and Huerco S, don’t pass this up. Recommended.

• 10th anniversary edition w/ alternate cover art
• black vinyl pressing
• digital download included
• original release year: 2016
• music label: Kompakt 2025

reviewed by peanut dust 03/2017