I don't know about anyone else, but I just love music of the electronica and chillout kind. Don't get me wrong, I'll quite happily go and see a live gig featuring tight soul outfits or melodic guitar bands and indeed I have many albums of this nature in my collection, but when it comes down to it for me, there's nowt better than a bit of chill. Maybe it's because I am quite a passive person at heart, I'm not into aggressive music although I do like a bit of Soulfly or System of A Down if the bad mood takes … But I'm generally at my happiest when it's late at night and the soothing grooves are emanating from the stereo.

It's not just in Ibiza and around the Balearics that chillout music has become popularised, everyone is trying to take a slice of the ambient cake. Ministry of Sound, as they frequently do these days, are releasing a new chillout album or dance album every few weeks, or so it seems anyway, but when you do that, you rarely capture some of the finer tracks of modern day and the past and you just end up recycling tracks that everyone has heard before and that you can find on any run of the mill album by a similar competitor. So I started watching Later with Jules Holland recently and when staying at a friends on a rather depressing October night last year, I discovered Zero 7.

So, who are Zero 7? They don't actually have "Band members" as such, being only a duo of producers who I'd imagine rely on guest vocalists and musicians to play out their ideas. Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker were both working in a London recording studio and didn't realise what a talent they had for production until they got together and began fiddling with mixing desks and DAT tapes. As soon as they found that they were onto something, they made a few demos and were soon employed by a long line of well known English artists to do remixing and production work. Indeed, remixing is probably what Zero 7 excelled at, before releasing 2 Eps and then their debut album Simple Things last summer.

Indeed, fast forward to track 2, Polaris and you're suspicions might be confirmed further. Polaris is a lounge style groovier. As some of the other tracks do, this one changes time signatures quite regularly, going from a ¾ style blissed out waltz into something more sinister sounding and regular in timing until again returning. The electric pianos and strings section alternate in playing the backing and melody and those wispy wind sounds and roaming maracas as they travel round your speakers are, it has to be said, very reminiscent of Moon Safari.

As Polaris dies out, my favourite track (that almost got into my top love songs lol), Destiny, fades in. This is a fantastic tune, sedate in pace and with the more organic acoustic guitar backing up the more modern audio effects, it is a stunning effort: ".. and I dream of you, but still believe there's only room for one, in this lonely hotel suite." The vocals of (I think …) Sophie Barker, who has also worked with Groove Armada in the past are as refreshing and wispy as any of the melodies. She has a versatile voice as you will see if you buy this album but she takes a quite straight forward approach to this almost balladic number. "When I'm weak, I draw strength from you and when you're lost, I know how to change your mood" - a powerful infectious melody with a slightly introverted feel but this is probably the idea as this song is mainly about missing someone you love…

If the album does tail off slightly, then it is over the next two tracks, Simple Things (again featuring Mozez) and the instrumental Red Dust that it does so. Simple Things is probably the darkest track on the album with a deep resounding drum accompaniment and a defeatist melody, whereas Red Dust is much more simplistic in its approach almost feeling RnBish at times with its bouncy rhythm but with the cosmic synths and piano backing it up it doesn't get on your nerves too much. Both tracks are well put together with an underlying feel of soul, but they suffer from the "Big track preceding" syndrome where you're forced back down to the ground with a bump after hearing a number of great tracks in a row. Definitely not fast forward jobs but certainly album tracks.

Then there's the debut single In The Waiting Line. I actually thought this was Dido to begin with, more because of the style (kind of Hunter) than the voice. This seems to be a firm favourite in Walsall clothes shops lol as they all seem to be discovering Zero 7 over the last few months. It's an easy going melody with the catchy chorus and a backing rich in brushed cymbals and slow moving base. From what it'd seem, this is a song about the pace of the world and how you can feel at a stand still as it all races past you: "Do you believe what you see, motionless wheel, nothing is real". Again, the instruments have been carefully selected and the vocals are hush and not at all laboured.

The album ends, very uncharacteristically with an orchestral piece. Quite appropriately called "End Theme" it's a fine and conclusive piece of work consisting mainly of strings and a double base. It's very film score, in that it's the kind of thing you'd expect to be playing at the end of a movie as the credits roll by. The plaintive high pitched violin melody strikes up a rapport with the firmer low end strings and the whole feel is very elegant and theatrical. Binns and Hardaker didn't actually write many of the songs, but this is a fine example of good production work as it is almost classical and so the mix of sound has to be got just right so no elements of the music are lost.

Till the next time …