If there are two people alive who are unlikely to be phased by the prospect of following up a hugely successful, critically acclaimed and much loved debut album, it's Zero 7's Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns. When, in 2001, they were hailed as the British Air and debut album "Simple Things" was being extolled as a work of intoxicatingly down-tempo splendour, the unassuming duo reacted with all the humble bewilderment of two bin men who'd just been complimented on the stylish way they collect garbage.
There was, they assured us, no grand plan. They had no hopes or schemes to conquer the world or save chill-out from its rapid decent into bland pap. They were merely doing what they do. It's hardly earth shattering news then to find that with "When It Falls" they're doing the same again. And it is exactly the same.
Unlike Goldfrapp, who junked the melancholic wonder of "Felt Mountain" for "Black Cherry"'s snarling electronica, or Air, who instigated the fashion for shimmering wind-down with debut "Moon Safari" and then promptly left the building, Hardaker and Binns have seen no reason to change so much as a dial on their analogue keyboards. And while that will rightly get them tagged as one trick ponies, they're safe in the knowledge that it's a trick they're exceptionally good at.
As well as recycling all the hazy chimes, lo-fi shuffles and widescreen gloops and bleeps that gave "Simple Things" its gentle charm, they've reassembled the same cast of otherworldly voices; with the added bonus of Tina Dico who angelically caresses first single "Home". With his whiskey soaked murmur, Mozez graces the sun-bleached '70s lounge of "Warm Sound" and wistful zero gravity lullabies "Over Our Head" and "Morning Song" with warmth and grandeur. Sophie Barker returns to smooch breathlessly over "Passing By"'s hypnotic sway and "In Time"'s folky saunter. Meanwhile, star of "Simple Things", Sia, reprises her role of heartstring tugger to achingly slur her way through the tingling flute and string melancholy of "Somersault" and "Speed Dial No.2".
Yet something's not quite right. It's almost all too familiar, so much so that it's hard to hear the tender songs and mesmerising instrumentals in their own right. Listening to "When It Falls" is like listening to your favourite album, only when you go to sing along all the words have been changed and the melodies don'=t go where they're meant to. And while the new melodies are suitably woozy, they're not distinct or assertive enough to surpass the ones that have dominated TV makeover shows, trendy retail establishments and every chill-out compilation going for the last three years.
"When It Falls" is unquestionably a gorgeous album. It's sweet, enchanting, dark and beautiful. It's lush, emotive and full of all the dreamy romance, heartbreak and cinematic loveliness that anyone who loved their debut could ever wish for. Yet for all its effortless magic, it's not "Simple Things". But it's bloody close.
