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'Simple Things' is not, the press release insists, a 'chill out album'.
OK, how about a 'mellow out album', 'relax out album', 'soothe out album',
ah damn it, it is a 'chill out album'. It may also be in its own right a
masterpiece of electronic understatement, Burt Bacharach meets Massive Attack
for a drink, and then sit down and discuss love over large reefers. It is
still an album designed to take you to relaxing and pleasant places, something
it does very well. Potato, Potatoe, lets call the whole thing off.
If we have established it is a chill out album, lets next establish I really
shouldn't be reviewing it. After all they are already well known in the UK,
and are threatening some kind of break out over here in the US of A, and
believe me this country needs a 'chill out album' right about now (yes I promise that is the last time I use the 'chill out' phrase during this review). Still I make the rules here at Indie Monkey, and I can break them every now and again. Especially when this was sent to me by Girlie Action Media, my favorite
PR company whose website URL looks suspicious in your cache.
 The US version of Simple Things is one hour and twelve minutes long, boasting
two more tracks than the UK version. Zero 7 began as two producers, who got
a break when they were asked to rework Radiohead's 'Climbing up the Walls'.
From there they climbed the remixing ladder via the likes of Neil Finn, Terry
Callier, and Lenny Kravitz.
Then came the record deal, the masterpiece of an album, the critical acclaim
in the UK, the maturing into a full, dozen plus, performing band, more critical praise, the beginning of a break in the US, a Mercury Music nomination in the UK for best album (think Grammy's with credibility), and now, if my spider-sense is accurate, the beginning of a backlash for sounding 'too much like Air' (the French band, not the invisible, odorless, and tasteless gas!)
Lets deal with this first. Yes there are similarities, not just in sound,
but in album structure, still I remember the British music press doing the
same thing to Radiohead, claiming they were just ripping off U2. How valid
does that statement look now? There is no rip off here, they are just coming
from a similar scene, in fact I would probably take Zero 7 over Air, if someone was asking me to choose, which of course they are not.
Opener 'I Have Seen', is an excellent introduction. Swoony and mellow, it
drags you in, and massages your head with strings and intoxicating rhythms.
It reminds me strangely of 'The Divine Comedy', another British band that
could have helped save America, had they been given the chance. We segue into
'Polaris', which is even dreamier. This is not music to play before you go
to work, unless you are a politician, then it should be compulsory. 'Destiny',
has 'break out' stamped all over it. Breath-taking female vocals slip in
and out of the melody like the world's best playa and his favorite silk sheets.
'When I'm weak I draw strength from you', if this isn't featured in a movie
at some point this year I will eat my hat (a nice woolen number courtesy
of The Whisky Priests ).
It goes on and on, each track a masterclass in relaxing, interesting, electronic music. If you only buy one album this year, well you are a moron. Still there would be worse choices than this. I just hope you steal the rest. Or start up your own website and get them all for free. Now leave me alone so I can chill out. (I lied, I used it again, so sue me).
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