Secret 7

Even the most cynical mind will agree that Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker thoroughly deserve the success they have enjoyed over the last eighteen months. Long term friends, the duo worked together for a few years before deciding to set up their own recording facility.

With a particular fondness for Radiohead, the pair, who had yet to choose the Zero 7 handle, decided to carry out an unsolicited remix of Thom Yorke & co’s ‘Climbing Up The Walls’. When they sent their deeply soulful and atmospheric mix off to the label, they could not have foreseen the fuss their new mix would cause. In fact, the Zero 7 version of the song became so popular that it was given a full, commercial release and was the driving force behind Sam and Henry’s decision to form the act. Subsequently, their first EP, simply called EP 1 followed, limited to a run of one thousand copies and containing ‘This World’, an incredibly moving piece of music, like all the best bits of Portishead and Air distilled four minutes of electronic perfection. Then they put out a follow-up single, ‘EP 2’ and their debut album, the critically acclaimed Simple Things. So, while Zero 7 aren’t exactly the most media friendly act, Sam Hardaker admits their new found attention beats the work they’re used to.

“We both wanted to do more than line up tape machines and check microphones for other people, so we just blagged the Radiohead mix,” he explains. “The music wasn’t tailored for dance music and wasn’t intended to be brought to the world’s attention through the dance music media but that’s the way it happened. It feels like it doesn’t fit into the general scheme of things and I don’t know if it has much in common with what’s called ‘chill out’ music. I know it needs to go somewhere to give people an indication of what our music is about, but I feel it’s a bit of a waste of time trying to define our music.”

Of course it would be facile and inaccurate to write off Zero 7 as merely a UK version of the French duo, something which has happened a few times to Henry and Sam since they rose to prominence. In fact, ‘Simple Things’ is steeped in the legacy of Quincy Jones, Motown soul and the sensuous, soulful side of electronic music; unfortunately, the Air comparisons is really a case of lazy journalism.

“Actually, I liked a lot of the Air material prior to Moon Safari, because it was really fresh music. I liked that they were making music that was groovy and dirty but melodic as well,” Sam says, before adding that he feels the French pair “went downhill from then on it. I’m not really into their poppy stuff. I can understand if people say some of our music is in a similar vein to Air; certainly, some of our instrumentals are similar. It’s quite mellow music and we use relatively the same sounds but it doesn’t explain everything we’re about. To be known as the British Air is a bit of a shame, we’d rather be well known for what we do ourselves.”

Indeed, the Zero 7 remixes of Lambchop and Terry Callier as well as their debut album highlights their love of huge string sections, soulful vocalists and irresistibly catchy hooks. While the duo wear their influences on their sleeves, their way of approaching things is laudable. For example, when asked about how they recorded Simple Things, Sam merely says: “We were just concerned about putting the music together. As soon as we had an album’s worth of material we started wondering, ‘how do we deliver this?”

Equally, when they were looking for a label to sign the album, they chose Ultimate Dilemma, an imprint known for break beat and hip-hop and not chill out because, “they were interested and enthusiastic and trusted what we were doing and we got on from the start which is more than I can say for anybody else! At that point we were halfway through making the album and weren’t sure where it was going, but they believed in us. All we could manage was to follow the course of the music we were making, and, though that might sound naïve, that’s just the way we are.”

This innocence comes through in the Zero 7 sound; it’s apparent in the dreamy melodies and high-pitched male vocals, the way their songs unfold in such a wide-eyed manner. Hardaker says: “Our favourite records combine rawness and dirtiness with great sweeping string sections. That contrast is something we aspire to capture. “We don’t have a plan,” he explains. “We’ll just keep writing and producing our music and hopefully we can just keep on doing what we enjoy most, which is making music. I’ll get back to you in six months about that though.”

Simple Things is out now on Ultimate Dilemma.