BBC Review
Too much here is unchallenging and stuck in the late 90s.
Chris Jones 2009-09-09
Zero 7's fourth album, despite containing a fair smattering of Ovaltine for the ears, marks a distinct change. Yeah Ghost is a schizophrenic offering that draws heavily on pop and rhythm, stuffed with all the right shapes but crucially lacking the vision that held Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker's post-clubbing world together back in the day.
As a mission statement, second track Mr Mcgee is pretty startling: it comes across more like a Basement Jaxx stomper, with vocalist Eska Mtungwazi contributing to its infectious call-and-response structure. But then it's on to the drifting, lilting Swing, with multi-tracked harmonies that wouldn't seem out of place on an early Air track. Having two disparate styles roughly placed together, though, signals a crisis of identity rather than a master plan.
The duo's sound engineer roots come through on their sonically adventurous moments. There's plenty here to get smokers frowning, such as instrumental tidbits Count Me Out and Solastalgia, where subdued electronica tastefully entices. The aural trickery of Ghost sYMbOl, meanwhile, will have you staring round the room wondering if that's your mobile going off; but its pitch-shifted vocals are a direct lift from the less-comforting work of superior Swedish pair The Knife.
Pop Art Blue wins the vocal prize with Martha Tilston's folky whisper, though you can't help yearning for the lost voice of longtime collaborator Sia Furler. This is especially the case when Binns takes to the microphone for the first time on Zinedine Zidane homage, Everything Up (Zizou). It takes style to deliver lines like: “Murakami would have told you so / If you catch him will you let me know? / Bobbing apples in the studio / Aikido, Aikido-si-do.” Oh dear…
The evident stylistic disparity is disappointing because variety is obviously well within the boys’ grasp. Sleeper is a genuinely unsettling and vibrant slice of M.I.A.-like electro insanity, while the closing All Of Us takes its own sweet time to build from tribal bump to blissful comedown anthem, and is all the better for it.
But too much here is either unchallenging and stuck in the late 90s, or too jarring to allow the album to flow. Maybe Zero 7’s time has truly passed.
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Comment number 1.
At 23:21 23rd Sep 2009, emmanuelandre wrote:I am halfway through my first listen, and although a little disheartened, I don't quite know what to think just yet. There are some catchy beats, and very nice vocals, but it seems to lack something the three previous albums had to offer me.
I find it hard to describe how much I dug Zero 7 the first time I listened to them. The last line of this review was crushed me. Not because it is unfair; because it might be true.
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Comment number 2.
At 15:35 13th Oct 2009, Whingeingpom wrote:Jarring is a good word. Whilst it's clear the album is a definite and planned departure from the previous albums, I imagine it's also a departure from their long term fans. What it lacks is soul...groove...the swirling rolling bluesy ballads and instrumentals which were on at least the first two albums. Think of tunes like Red Dust, Milton at Midnight, Out of Town, When It Falls...then listen to this. I went to the Friday gig at the Roundhouse and left early as frankly the music bored me and the singing was lacklustre. Even the couple of old songs they played in the first hour seemed out of focus. I think their day is done.
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Comment number 3.
At 10:34 17th Oct 2009, Scotbloc wrote:After waiting ages for a new Zero 7 album the first signs were not promising with weird sonic experiments and none of the groove that characterised their earlier albums. And then reviews of the tour were poor with talk of mass walkouts due to boredom. However, after a couple of listens, the songs start to come out to you. There is a change in style from previous but this is part of writing for new vocalists - Zero 7's history has always been to change vocalists and although Sia is sorely missed, the new voices, particularly the soulful Eska, bring something new to the party. Finally, to seal the deal, the gig in Edinburgh. I was worried about being disappointed but I was wrong. I don't know if they changed their set from the beginning of the tour, but they really proved that they can rock it as a live band. Eska's voice was amazing, bringing a soulful edge to songs that wasn't present before and filling the venue gloriously. Even the reworking of old songs went down well and the crowd seemed ecstatic. I don't think that Zero 7 are done.
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