Photo: AZAdam, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Zero 7

Zero 7 are the London duo of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker, who met working in a recording studio and went from remixing other people's songs to making some of the most quietly distinctive downtempo music of the early 2000s. Their sound blends soft electronics, warm instrumentation and a jazzy lilt, with guest singers like Sia and Sophie Barker giving many of their best-known tracks their voice. "Destiny" and "In the Waiting Line" became the kind of songs people recognised even when they couldn't name the band behind them.

Start here

Simple Things (2001). Their debut remains the clearest way in. "Destiny" features an early vocal from Sia, "In the Waiting Line" later found a huge second life on the Garden State soundtrack, and "I Have Seen" shows how naturally the duo work with a guest voice.

Official Spotify embed. This player is provided by Spotify and may set cookies. See our Privacy page.

Biography

Zero 7 is an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker that formed in 1997. Their debut album, Simple Things, was released in 2001; their song "Destiny" stayed in the top 100 of the UK Single Charts. Subsequent albums include When It Falls, The Garden, and Yeah Ghost.

After studying sound engineering, Binns and Hardaker began their careers in the music industry in the 1990s at Mickie Most's RAK Studios in London, engineering music for British groups like Pet Shop Boys, Young Disciples, and Robert Plant. In 1997 they created a remix of the song "Climbing Up the Walls" by Radiohead (which was also the first time the name 'Zero 7' was used), provided additional programming on "Meeting in the Aisle", a Karma Police B-side, and Binns received a credit for additional sampling on Kid A. The pair also remixed Terry Callier's "Love Theme From Spartacus" and songs by Lenny Kravitz, Sneaker Pimps and Lambchop.

From Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA. Read the full article.