The Box (Orbital song)

"The Box" is a single by the British electronica duo Orbital. Taken from their 1996 album In Sides, the single was released in 1996 and reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.^[1]

The song

Orbital claimed in a 2002 sleeve note that the single's video, which starred actress Tilda Swinton, was "by common consent, the best video we've ever done". The promotional video won a silver sphere for the best short film at the San Francisco Film Festival and got nominated for the best video award at the 1997 Brit Awards. It was also shown in the Mirrorball strand of the Edinburgh International Film Festival and in the London Calling section of the London International Film Festival.

Part of the song was used in the Danny Boyle film, A Life Less Ordinary, but was not on the soundtrack. The song was also used in the final episode of Daria, "Boxing Daria".

"The Box" was released in two main versions, each divided into parts. The album version released on In Sides is in two parts, a slow ambient "part 1" and an upbeat "part 2". The longer single version is in four parts, of which the first has a similar arrangement to "part 2" of the album version. On the CD single (but not the 12" vinyl), the first three parts are segued/mixed together, though indexed separately.

The last part on the single contains a vocal version of "The Box", with additional vocals by Grant Fulton and Alison Goldfrapp. The lyrics were written by Fulton. Fulton has previously contributed lyrics and vocals to the earlier Orbital single "Belfast"/"Wasted", and he is one half of the design duo Fultano Mauder regularly responsible for artwork on Orbital releases.

References

1. ↑ Roberts, David (Ed.) (2004). British Hit Singles & Albums (17th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 0-85112-199-3.

External links

• "The Box" at Discogs (list of releases)

• The Box video on co-director Jes Benstock's vimeo page