Zero 7 - 'Yeah Ghost' (Atlantic) Released 07/09/09

From their Mercury nominated debut album, 'Simple Things', Zero 7 duo Henry Binns and Sam Hardake became le grande fromage of the downbeat genre, bringing artful production and frothing with great vocalists. Where 'Simple Things' was languid and zeitgeist-defining, the difficult second album 'When It Falls' was plain safe, while 'The Garden' in 2006 found a stronger footing with Sia Furler and Jose Gonzales paired.

On 'Yeah Ghost', new vocalists are drafted and cinematic leanings traded as Zero 7 up the ante and deliver a choice slice of avant-electro-pop - rarefied folk doyenne Martha Tilston seals the finer songs, whilst Eska Mtungwaz (Matthew Herbert, Bugz In The Attic) shoulders the dance-floor numbers.

'Everything Up (Zizou)' finds Binns singing "...turn it round like Zinedine Zidane...", with cheesy verse about truth being faster than a laser beam, a 80's digi-pastiche that somehow works. The dark and experimental 'Ghost sYMbOL' rumbles with a Leftfield-esque dub, as digi-arpeggios and shimmering organ rub up drawled and modulated vocals, while 'Medicine Man' borrows the ('Black and Gold') electro-pop template as Mtungwazi sings "...out-ray-jus, simply out-ray-jus..." with a skip happy chipperness.

On the funk-soul-pop of 'Mr McGee' Mtungwazi's vocals go from high to shrill as an ass-wiggling b-line and sampled vocals aim the tune squarely at the dance-floor, singing "...so right!!! feels good!!!..." with a good-times conviction, and 'Sleeper' gets the wind up like a psycho-girlfriend, singing "...I won't sleep, keep the radio on..." as the Z7 boys throw bassy warbles, digi-pulses, computer game sonics amongst a desert storm of electro-orchestrated sampledelica.

On 'Pop Art Blue', Tilston sings with a gossamer veiled lightness, an ersatz hallucinatory folky reverie that's modern and sweet. Meanwhile, the lullaby 'The Road', Mtungwazi shows greater texture and resonance accompanying soft keys, gospel-like harmonies and a tune for a departing soul. 'Swing' is like rolling down the grassy banks, a happy tune par excellence abetted by xylophone and the exotic patter of steel drums as Tilston snaffles a dreamy song.

Instrumental tracks 'All Of Us' and 'Count Me Out' pose difficulties, the latter features flutterings of synthesised harp and crystalline programming that noodles it's way up a cul-de-sac, whereas 'Solastalgia' has a digi-experimental edge that's like gravitating in one of Saturn's rings.

'Yeah Ghost' is a real grower, not an immediate schmoozer. Delve deeper and Zero 7 are equally adept at cutting edge production as the acoustic, dreamy soul-folk arrangements. Shoe-horned by Tilston and Mtungwazi's vocals, 'Yeah Ghost' engages Zero 7's production nouse, marking their least nostalgic release to date.