Zero 7
When it Falls
Elektra
Three years ago, the British duo Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns quietly released one of the best albums of the decade, Simple Things. These two producers have taken their erotically relaxing sound, rounded up singers Sia Furler, Sophie Barker and Mozez (all featured throughout Simple Things) as well as vocalist Tina Dico and made their follow-up When It Falls, an album that builds on the slower moments of Simple Things.
The album starts off with Mozez taking the lead on the lackluster (and frankly boring) “Warm Sound.” Despite the slow start, the album moves to the first single – and easily the best song on the album – “Home,” this time featuring Tina Dico. Her powerfully understated vocals perfectly complement the porn background beats. This is definitely a track that could set the mood (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
“Somersault” begins the slow descent into oblivion for Zero 7. After this track, I began to forget that I was actually listening to the album. The songs are okay, but they function much better as background music than as music that deserves some attention paid to it. The upside, I suppose, is that this is a great album to have in the background for almost anything: cooking, thinking, shaving, boinking, et cetera. There’s a track here for everything.
“Somersault” is supposedly going to be remixed by Danger Mouse. If that name sounds familiar, it should. He’s been getting a lot of publicity for mixing the vocals of Jay-Z’s The Black Album with the instrumentation of The Beatles’ White Album, and calling it The Grey Album. Hopefully, he can liven up this track just a little bit.
Overall, Zero 7 has hit a sophomore slump. On Simple Things they interspersed the slower tracks with some funkier and more upbeat rhythms. When It Falls takes Zero 7 into the slow and laid-back side of Simple Things, and the sound quickly gets very tiresome.
Zero 7: http://www.zero7.co.uk/
