Orbit Service drifts into spellbinding new terrain with Leave For Good, an album that expands upon Randall Frazier’s deeply captivating inward explorations. Since the arrival of 2021’s Dreamless LP, Orbit Service has built upon Frazier’s partnership with guitar player and Legendary Pink Dots cohort Erik Drost. The result is a billowing atmospheric collection of songs that plumb the depths of isolation, loss, and an awareness of time slipping away—accelerating out of control.
Frazier has spent years collaborating with the likes of Mark Spybey of Dead Voices on Air, Kim G. Hansen of Antenne, and Edward Ka-spel of the Legendary Pink Dots.
Drost, who first appeared on Orbit Service’s 2021 album Dreamless, has since become a full-fledged member of Orbit Service, bringing new depth and cohesion to the music.
Throughout the album, songs such as “Beyond Beyond,” “Try Not To Be Blue,” and “Sleepwalk,” unfold like meditations on the fragility of existence. They are vast and atmospheric, filled with droning textures and lingering melodies that resonate with the dreamlike essence of the LPDs, while pushing Frazier’s musical vision into deeper and more ethereal realms of melancholy. Spectral violin and viola rhythms, courtesy of Devothcka’s Tom Hagerman, blend seamlessly with Frazier’s voice and electronic textures carrying the ambiance far beyond the bounds of waking life.
Still, there is clarity in each number, as all of these elements become concrete in the title track, inviting reflection, growth, and strength.
Recorded between Frazier’s Cloud City studio in Bailey, Colorado, and in Drost’s Mostly Harmless Recording in Arnhem, Netherlands, the album is a testament to their shared chemistry. Frazier and Drost are accomplished sound engineers who possess a deep understanding of each others’ musical instincts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they worked together trading files online, refining, and trusting each other’s instincts to carve away anything unnecessary.
The production underscores their synergy, with Frazier’s penchant for space merging with Drost’s stripped-down arrangements resulting in songs that flow into one seamless body of work.
Leave For Good marks a turning point for Orbit Service—a realization of Drost and Frazier’s shared potential as a collaborative entity. It’s an album born out of isolation but steeped in connection, proving that distance can foster profound creativity.
— Chad Radford
