Yeah Ghost

Zero 7’s marvelous charisma

Despite that Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns have been making music for almost two decades already, their band Zero 7 got the world acknowledgement only in the beginning of the new millennium. The musicians and producers started from making extraordinary remixes of Radiohead’s songs, released some albums of their original material and never repeated themselves. The ideas of Zero 7 are unpredictable all the time, therefore their music cannot be considered within the frames of standard genre classification: one call it acid jazz, the others – a mixture of punk and electronica, the third find the shades of funk and chill-out in these songs, all being right and wrong at the same time. The thing is that with such a scrupulous selection of vocalists, careful attention to the tiniest nuances in the arrangements and writing the most unusual melodies these authors also have a marvelous charisma which gives that very unexplainable charm to their creations. This year Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns who has demonstrated great vocal skills on the previous album The Garden release their fourth studio masterpiece Yeah Ghost becoming its predecessor’s great continuation and yet different from the rest of Zero 7’s other works.

Yeah Ghost, an incredibly varied record

The success of Zero 7’s several last recordings was partially deserved by the vocalists Sia Furler who is now pursuing a solo career, so Hardaker and Binns had to search for somebody to replace her, though at first they wanted to make an overtly instrumental album. The musicians have once again proved right with their choice – the Anglo-Zimbabwean singer Eska Mtungwazi and the English Martha Tilston's shine on the new work Yeah Ghost. The album starts with the most unimaginable sounds and tune tracery on a short track Count Me Out preparing the listeners for an incredible variety of the record Yeah Ghost. An amazingly contagious number Mr. McGee is refined with a simple but penetrating sample and an expressive vocal part, while Swing with a nice flavor of melancholic folk proves to be one of the most soulful on the album. Contrasting with it because of a more complicated rhythmic line the following composition Everything Up (Zizou) definitely is one of the album’s highlights – a many-layered arrangement, Binns’ space vocals, an elusive tune – everything is thought to particularities here. A most beautiful song Pop Art Blue can easily be called the most melodious here; it pleases with metaphoric lyrics and a mixture of vocals and accompaniment that sends shivers down your spine, whereas the compositions Ghost sYMbOL and Sleeper are the examples of how one can use the most varied moods using digital technologies. The authors’ imagination gets utterly free on Solastalgia, an absolutely indescribable sound circulation, soothing and exciting at the same time, and the album closer is a real percussion celebration All Of Us.

An inimitable musical adventure

11 tracks of Yeah Ghost are 11 different, independent, original and endlessly stylish compositions performed at the highest possible level. The music of Zero 7 can be called rather slow than up-tempo, rather soft and lyrical than heavy and prosaic, rather sensual and fragile than cynical and persistent. It is no use giving more precise characteristics – it is all about listening, immersing, thinking, meditating, relaxing and wondering how it can be that complicated and simple at the same time. This music can help you very quickly when you need to remember that the world is unfathomable and has all the kinds of things in it. Take, for instance, a most beautiful composition The Road – the themes of love, hope, dreams, disappointment and life in general are united in it and all is poured into the form of excellently gentle keyboards and the softest vocals. Thus, Zero 7 have done what they have always been doing on Yeah Ghost: it has experimented as much as it wanted creating the wonderfully harmonious contrasts, spread melancholy, gayety, reflection, flights of imagination and feelings playing among the tracks and given the world another opportunity to experience an inimitable musical adventure.