Day 321: Zero 7 – Simple Things
It’s Saturday, I’ve got my face mask on, I’m concerned with nothing else today than relaxing and having a nice time. It’s one of those days when I just want to light some candles and relax so hard that I forget that I’m a person and turn into an amorphous blob, so obviously I needed a chill album to accompany it. It’s time to tackle another that’s been on my list, Simple Things by Zero 7.
Album cover courtesy of Ultimate Dilemma
Zero 7 was formed in 1997 by two English sound engineers called Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. The pair had been working together at RAK Studios in London and worked with artists like Robert Plant and Radiohead. Their big break came when Radiohead asked them to remix their song "Climbing Up the Walls", and the Zero 7 mix started getting radio play. They released their debut album Simple Things in 2001, which peaked at number 28 in the UK Albums chart and number 4 on the US Top Dance/Electronic Albums.
Like probably everyone else on earth, I had heard “In the Waiting Line” before, so I think I was expecting more of that floaty, airy sound with a woman doing beautiful vocals. I was surprised to learn that it’s a duo of two dudes, with vocalists Mozez, Sia and Sophie Barker featuring on a number of the songs. And yes, it’s the same Sia who became a huge pop star some 13 years after this album’s release.
As expected, the album mostly consists of floaty downtempo tunes that are airy in more ways than one – apparently critics dubbed them British Air at the time when this came out. While that might have been intended as an insult, what I hear is “they’re close to one of your favourite bands”, so I choose to take it as a compliment on their behalf. I’d be a bit more receptive if they sounded like a carbon copy of Air, but they’re no even close to going that far, they’re just in the same category doing different things.
I’m also sure nostalgia plays into how much I’m enjoying the album. There’s something very comforting about their sound and early 2000s chillout music in general, but I think part of the nostalgia also comes from how much the songs remind me of the soundtrack to Veronica Mars, which was my favourite show growing up. I googled to see if they had any songs in the show and they didn’t, but the series composer said his main inspirations for the score were Zero 7 and Air, which you can absolutely hear.
I was so immersed in this that I didn’t realise I’d been sitting weird so my foot was dead and I decked it when I got up, I’d say my blob target has been well and truly reached and the album is so good it hurts. It’s a 9/10, I wish I’d discovered it sooner.