Yeah Ghost   ★★★★★
Zero 7
45:12 min • Atlantic • September 28th, 2009
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From their humble beginnings as sound engineers for the Pet Shop Boys, Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker truly hit the big time when asked to remix the track ‘Climbing Up The Walls’ for Radiohead’s OK Computer. A chill-out career was then mapped out by their first single ‘Destiny’, which has featured on many compilation albums and in hoards of television shows and films. Yeah Ghost is the duo’s fourth studio album and is a departure of sorts from the laid-back trip-hop of previous ventures. With favoured vocalist Sia Furler occupied on her solo material, Binns and Hardaker have opted for Eska Mtungwazi, Martha Tilston and Jackie Daniels to guest feature on this project. The album also showcases a rare vocal from Zero 7 co-founder Binns.

The album’s opener ‘Count Me Out’ has the feel of musicians during a sound check, has tinges of Goldfrapp’s majestic track ‘Felt Mountain’, and is also revisited in a reprise of sorts in ‘Solastalgia’. Just as we are sitting comfortably, ‘Mr McGee’ bursts onto the scene with the soulful stylings of Eska Mtungwazi and forms a Basement Jaxx-esque, leftfield pop stomper that weaves gently into a typical Zero 7 ambient bridge. Having truly found a boon in this supremely talented vocalist, we are left aching for more from this inspired and bold union and Mtungwazi does not disappoint. Her splendid response to a lover’s lies on the track ‘Medicine Man’ blends elements of Sam Sparro’s ‘Black and Gold’ with some nu-soul and is easily one of the album’s highlights. The Zimbabwean-born Mtungwazi is however not limited to the album’s two startling stompers and handles the aching, soulful delivery in ‘The Road’ with perfect poise as well as the haunting, more downbeat ‘Sleeper’ with talented ease.

Elsewhere, Henry Binns has the mic on the industrial ‘Everything Up (Zizou)’ and waxes lyrical about Zinedane Zidane (!) against a fantastic guitar riff and an ending that mirrors the opening gambit of Sophie B. Hawkins’ ‘Right Beside You’. ‘Swing’ by contrast is more than vaguely reminiscent of The Stranglers oft-sampled ‘Golden Brown’. It spins into an acoustic gem with some beautiful harmonies from Jackie Daniels and a superlative use of kettledrums. Then there is the truly beautiful ‘Pop Art Blue’, a flawless folky turn from Martha Tilston and is Zero 7 at their undisputed best, underpinning breathy vocals with soft drums, xylophonic synth and a dreamscape bridge.

Things also take a darker although optimistic road with the edgy track ‘Ghost Symbol’, which veers back into trip-hop territory, with synthesised vocals adding elements of the sinister. This benevolent feel is immediately reinforced by next track ‘Sleeper’, which explores many musical avenues from its dark, haunting opening akin to ‘Inertia Creeps’ by Massive Attack to its trippy, electronica denouement. The album’s closer, ‘All Of Us’, is a futuristic, tribal affair that deconstructs into an acoustic blissed-out anthem, finishing off proceedings on a high.

Yeah Ghost is a rather varied affair, as the diverse range of influences on the album is testament to, and this is where the album fails slightly, as it seems difficult for the tracks to gel. The title even suggests a random order and hints at an acknowledgement of a ghost in the recording studio and perhaps a new dawn for the duo. Conversely, Binns and Hardaker should be applauded for exploring different avenues. The venture is certainly a big step for the duo in becoming singer/songwriters rather than producers. The wonderful ‘Pop Art Blue’ and the immense ‘Medicine Man’ highlight how well they have achieved this. Their potency however seems to still lie in the downbeat, trip-hop, ambient arena. The album has divided critics, but there are some real creative fires crackling whenever Mtungwazi guests and she truly lends a vibrancy to her tracks. The trip hop trailblazers have yet to fully morph into leftfield pop territory, but with many hooks and moments Basement Jaxx would be fiercely proud of, the boys have done good.