Zero 7 – Simple Things

In the future, when someone is writing the history of downtempo, Zero 7 will surely make an appearance for their debut album, SIMPLE THINGS. It has the same classic quality that Air's MOON SAFARI, though it takes a different tack. Instead of remaining in space, it bounces from emotion to emotion: from the calm beauty of "I Have Seen" to the melancholia of "Polaris" (which also features a prominent funk breakdown!). Even better, this is the album that introduced Sia's voice to the wider world, and her appearances mark high points: "Destiny" has a powerful soul-inflected romanticism; "Distractions," which is even better, shows Sia putting the full-force of her emotions behind her cry of 'I love you.' Mozez also offers his strong tenor to the creeping sadness of the title track, as well as the heartbreaking "This World." Though some may contend that this album eases too much towards the soft, adult-contemporary side of things, I'd argue that the careful placement of the sweeping strings and horn sections (as on "Out of Town") make this album more akin to Burt Bacharach than your what's offered on those snoozy radio stations. Besides, you most likely won't hear the South African women's choir The Mothers, as you do here on "Likufanele." The American version of the album also includes two bonus tracks, most notably, "Spinning," which showcases Sophie Barker at her lullaby best. Simple, and yet sublime.

There are variety of ways to describe this album. One way is that it is the soundtrack to a retro-futuristic cool cat film where the city lights are like Tokyo's yet the fashion and decor sense is a return to New York/Los Angeles of the 1970s. Another is the Starbucks soundtrack that will never be. A favourite of mine is that this is the alternate to listening to a "smooth jazz" radio station.

It's a soulful mix of soul, jazz and electro. The vocals are great (although personally I'm not particularly fond of Sia Furler at certain moments) and the arrangements are right on the money for this type of "retro-techno" sound. I sometimes get confused if it's a smooth jazz combo trying to be electronic or an electronic group trying to be smooth jazz. Either way, it's a relax listen after a hard day at the office or whilst being in the office. Just pretend that you are sitting on a plush lounge chair instead of a hard, lumbar , correcto-posture office chair =]