Paul Hartnoll is a British writer, producer and composer of music, widely recognised for his pioneering work with Orbital, the band he formed and which toured extensively and released eight albums between 1990 and 2012.

 

Known for their innovations in electronic music, Orbital were equally famed for their blend of visual presentation and live performance - an approach born of the same audio-visual sensibility that informs Paul's work to this day.

 

Though primarily associated with electronic music, Paul's stated and audible influences have always leant towards to the cinematic, with frequent nods to John Barry and Ennio Morricone via the machine led sensibilities of Kraftwerk and the upstart instincts of do-it-yourself punk.

 

Whilst Orbital's music has been licensed to feature films including Hackers, Mortal Kombat, and Mean Girls, the band has also scored and composed new material for movies and television including Event Horizon, The Saint, The Beach, xXx, and Pusher.

In 2007 Paul wrote and arranged an album with full orchestra and choir - The Ideal Condition. 2015 saw the release of an eponymous album from his new band 8:58, which features appearances from Cillian Murphy, Robert Smith, and Ed Harcourt, among other artists. In 2016, Paul teamed up with Vince Clark (Depeche Mode, Erasure) to create the “home house” style album 2Square.

 

As a solo composer he has written music for commercial campaigns, and clients include Volkswagen (whose ad won the inaugural Thinkboxes award), Range Rover, Rolex, Ralph Lauren, and the NSPCC. Most recently Paul scored Season Two of the BBC Drama series "Peaky Blinders" and wrote music for the movie "American Ultra".