More about: Zero 7

'The Garden' is an album that plays up to the strengths dispayed on 'Simple Things'  yet appeared lacking on 'When It Falls'. Zero 7 once again employ the stalwart vocal talents of Sia Furler, and a fresh face with the Portugese man of the moment Jose Gonzalez, Zeros' own Henry Binns also having a turn on mic duties.

'Futures' opens with the chiming guitars and soft-keys, the unfamiliar alliance with Jose working with the easy groove of the Zeros' and nods towards influences such as Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder - don't go to press the forward key, the track isn't stuck but goes into spliced/looped rhythms for what could prove killer remix material. The pop-sensibility is at play with 'Throw It All Away', 'The Pageant Of The Bizarre' and 'This Fine Social Scene' - all sung by Sia. 'Throw...', the forthcoming single is like some Morcheeba number by way of McCartney's Wings, an up and quirky number with jaunty rhythms and virtuoso guitar (or is that a zither), Sia - "...side 1 track 2/ on a record of you/ stuck in a groove/ and I don't want to lose...". 'Pageant' has a carnivalesque-swirl, a touch of the fairground in its merriment, melodica and keys like a Brian Wilson tune - "...catch a fallling star/ you'll go far/ in the pageant of the bizarre/ and tonight I'll give you my heart...". 'This Fine...' has Sia deliver with gusto - "...I couldn't see the cracks in this fine social scene/ I couldn't find the fault with this whole pantomine..." - like from a Dorothy Parker novel, smiles like Colt 45's, vintage-sounding electronics and a hammy squiggly-guitar lending 'Queeny' touches. Sia again, this time with a scat-poet delivery on 'You're My Flame' amidst the vintage bleeps and key-washes - "...you tied our legs so now we have three/ you dipped your toes into the ice-cold sea/ I see your reflection - your reflection is me...", boy, its jus' like the Tom Tom Club.

Jose returns on 'Left Behind' and 'Today' - the former like Simon and Garfunkel's 'Bookends' - reflective with 6-string and sounding like the other Jose, Mr Felciano; the latter cha cha's with a Brazilian samba rhythm and digi-funk - "...today/ the words don't mean enough for us to say...today/ to steal the moment that we gave away...". 'Your Place' leaps out from the release with all the mellow Zero 7 TM's, the full-suite orchestral sound that clever programming can muster showing the breadth of their production backgrounds. 'Crosses' shines with Joses' delivery and a miminal boppy-tune - "...crosses all over/ heavy on you shoulders/ the sirens inside you/ waiting to step forward...catch some light it'll be alright..." giving way to the funky handclaps and a swooping rhythm ripe for the dancefloor remixers picking. Sia closes the jollities with 'Waiting To Die' - a fatalistic/ apocalyptic nursery rhyme - "...lar la la lar/ cos we're waiting here to die...", adressing the ecological impasse we have created, yet still the sun shines.

'The Garden' shows all the production values of Zero 7 to the fore with the old string-laden keyboards providing emotive power, the vocalists the depth and richness - the TM signatures that we have come to know from them. The mood is light and poppy with the use of vintage (acutal or sounding?) keyboards providing different flavours, the whole setting things into a shimmy ready for the summer.

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More about: Zero 7