Zero 7: Sam Hardaker, Henry Binns.

Additional personnel: Mozez, Tina Dico, Sia Furler, Sophie Baker, Yvonne John Lewis (vocals); Dedi Madden (acoustic & electric guitars); Gerard Presencer (trumpet, flugelhorn).

This is a Hyper CD, which contains regular audio tracks and also provides a link to the artist's website with the help of a web browser.

Personnel: Yvonne John Lewis (vocals, background vocals); Tina Dico, Sia Furler (vocals); Dedi Madden (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Nigel Godrich (guitar); Alan Simpson (acoustic guitar); Sally Herbert (violin); Brilliant Strings (strings); Dan Lipman, Siobhan Lamb (flute); Adam Glasser (harmonica); Gerard Presencer (trumpet, flugelhorn, brass); Barnaby Dickinson (trombone); Neil Cowley (Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, Wurlitzer organ); Eddie Stevens (Moog synthesizer); Crispin Taylor, Jeremy Stacey (drums).

Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker made their debut as Zero 7 to much acclaim with 2001's SIMPLE THINGS. The UK duo's follow-up, WHEN IT FALLS, is a refinement of their style, rather than an expansion. Producers/songwriters Binns and Hardaker once again concoct a sultry melange of soul, acid jazz, pop, and electronica, all filtered through a hazy, late-night mood that gets murky but never melancholic.

On this set of songs, warm electric piano and twinkling synthesizers dance atop a bed of subtly insinuated funk grooves with a lazy, mid-summer feeling. Guest vocalists (mostly female) intone sweetly atop Binns and Hardaker's tracks, perhaps most notably the honey-voiced Mozez, reprising her role from the first album. The perky "Look Up" speeds along in a loungey, Stereolab kind of way, but otherwise WHEN IT FALLS is strictly music for the chill-out room, a silky salve for tired ears, and a place where both bed-sitters and all-night revelers can come to collect themselves and soak up the serene vibe.