Paul is one of two brothers (the other being Phil Hartnoll), who made up the electronic band called Orbital. He was born on 19 May 1968, in Dartford, Kent. The Ideal Condition is the solo album that Hartnoll released in May 2007. There is a more acoustic lean on this album than on Orbital's past albums because that's how he thought it would work best. Hartnoll decided (with the help of Arranger Chris Elliot) to have the album played by a union-full orchestra which is a totally different direction than Orbital would have taken.