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Zero7 - Not Just The British Air

© Katherine Wharmby

You might know Zero 7 as Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich's band. You'd only be half-right, though; the real core of the band consists of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker, two twenty-seven-year-old ex-studio engineers who describe themselves in their Web site bio as "two nice lads, growing up together in North London." Godrich, who met Binns at school, isn't a full-time member of the group and, more often than not, isn't mentioned in interviews and reviews. He did, however, give Zero 7 their start, letting them remix Radiohead's song Climbing Up The Walls. This led to two EPs, a remix of Lambchop's Up With People that had music critics drooling all over themselves, and finally Zero 7's debut full-length album, Simple Things, out now on the UK's Ultimate Dilemma label.

The NME has dubbed Zero7 the British Air. It's true that their lazy, loungey music sounds a lot like the French dance band, but there's also evidence of influences like Curtis Mayfield, Pink Floyd, Massive Attack, Spiritualized, and (of course) Radiohead. There's none of the darkness of those artists on this record, though; it's sunny through and through. There's not even Air's tongue-in-cheek easy-listening vibe; Zero 7's serious about their music. They genuinely love their musical forefathers; they're not simply borrowing their styles to make a semi-sarcastic artistic statement.

The album's aptly named. There is simplicity to the music, even though it's perfectly produced. Many of the tracks are instrumental, and the songs with vocals treat the voice as if it were another instrument. It's not there to say anything particularly meaningful, just to add to the mood.

There's also a quietness about the album; it would sound good turned up to ten, but unlike a lot of music, it doesn't sound better. A song like Red Dust might actually blur its delicate melodic layers being blasted out of a Kenwood car system. On the album's first track, I Have Seen, the vocalist might be singing just to himself, his tattered voice practically whispering. Australian guest vocalist Sia Furler ups the emotion on Destiny and Distracted, but still doesn't put the pedal all the way to the metal like you know she could; she knows this album's too hushed and mellow for that. Instead she mutters and sighs like Fiona Apple, and it's perfect for the mood.

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