When It Falls

Performer: Zero 7
Artist: Gerard Presencer
Producer: Zero 7...
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser. Zero 7: Sam Hardaker, Henry Binns. Additional personnel: Mozez, Tina Dico, Sia Furler, Sophie Baker, Yvonne John Lewis (vocals); Dedi Madden (acoustic & electric guitars); Gerard Presencer (trumpet, flugelhorn). Personnel: Yvonne John Lewis (vocals, background vocals); Tina Dico, Sia Furler (vocals); Dedi Madden (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Nigel Godrich (guitar); Alan Simpson (acoustic guitar); Sally Herbert (violin); Brilliant Strings (strings); Dan Lipman, Siobhan Lamb (flute); Adam Glasser (harmonica); Gerard Presencer (trumpet, flugelhorn, brass); Barnaby Dickinson (trombone); Neil Cowley (Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, Wurlitzer organ); Eddie Stevens (Moog synthesizer); Crispin Taylor, Jeremy Stacey (drums). Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker made their debut as Zero 7 to much acclaim with 2001's SIMPLE THINGS. The UK duo's follow-up, WHEN IT FALLS, is a refinement of their style, rather than an expansion. Producers/songwriters Binns and Hardaker once again concoct a sultry m�lange of soul, acid jazz, pop, and electronica, all filtered through a hazy, late-night mood that gets murky but never melancholic. On this set of songs, warm electric piano and twinkling synthesizers dance atop a bed of subtly insinuated funk grooves with a lazy, mid-summer feeling. Guest vocalists intone sweetly atop Binns and Hardaker's tracks, perhaps most notably the honey-voiced Mozez, reprising his role from the first album. The perky "Look Up" speeds along in a loungey, Stereolab kind of way, but otherwise WHEN IT FALLS is strictly music for the chillout room, a silky salve for tired ears, and a place where both bed-sitters and all-night revelers can come to collect themselves and soak up the serene vibe.

Rolling Stone (3/18/04, p.70) - 3 stars out of 5 - "WHEN IT FALLS is absolutely busting with floaty Fender Rhodes keyboard riffs, plucked acoustic guitars, billowing coronets and sexy vocalists." Spin (4/04, p.94) - "[T]hese svelte English soul-jazzers continue to play it sweet and low..." - Grade: B+ Entertainment Weekly (3/12/04, p.114) - "[Zero 7] return with a more accessible set of dreamy love songs." - Rating: B Q (4/04, p.121) - 4 stars out of 5 - "WHEN IT FALLS is a sublime collection that surpasses its predecessor. It's the same sandy-smooth blend of jazz, funk, soul and the relaxed hip hop beats that informed SIMPLE THINGS..." Mojo (Publisher) (3/04, p.104) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]he enchanting voice of Sia Furler lightly caresses its sweetest moments."

The musical careers of former studio engineers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker were given a boost by old college chum and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich when he let them remix OK COMPUTER's "Climbing Up the Walls." The resulting product led to greater things, including a full-length album, 2001's SIMPLE THINGS, which revealed the duo's fondness for atmospheric soul-jazz, languid film score-influenced compositions, and urbane electronica.

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