Zero 7 is a London, UK downtempo duo, consisting of Henry Binns & Sam Hardaker.
They began as studio engineers at Mickie Most's RAK recording studio in London, engineering music for British groups like the Pet Shop Boys, Young Disciples, and Robert Plant. In 1997 they were asked by a college friend, Nigel Godrich (who was busy producing OK Computer), to remix Radiohead's "Climbing Up the Walls". They called the mix "the Zero 7 Mix" which stuck.
In January 2000, they released an EP of original material called EP 1 under the name Zero 7. The release was limited to 1000 copies. A second EP, titled EP 2, was released in September of that same year.
In April 2001, they released their debut album, Simple Things, which featured collaborations with vocalists Mozez, Sia, and Sophie Barker. The album peaked at number 28 on the UK albums chart and went platinum. It was later nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and won the "Best Newcomer" Muzik Award. Live appearances after the album's release consisted of Binns and Hardaker along with guest vocalists and other musicians, with as many as 20 performers on stage at once.
In March 2004, they released their second album, When It Falls. In addition to the three vocalists from their first album, it featured a collaboration with Danish singer-songwriter Tina Dico. It peaked at number 3 on the UK albums chart, their highest charting to date, and became a certified platinum record. That same year, Binns co-wrote the Emma Bunton track "Breathing".
The Garden, their third record, was released in May 2006. Containing vocals performed by Binns as well as guest vocalists Sia and Swedish folk musician José González. The album was named after the collage that artist and friend Gideon London produced for its cover. The album was nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award in the category 'Best Electronic/Dance Album'. It was certified gold in the UK, peaking at number 4 on the album charts.
The next few years were a period of experimentation for the duo. In 2007, Binns and Hardaker created a band called Ingrid Eto, described as "a Zero 7 instrumental project" the group performed live a few times throughout the year. In 2009, they released an experimental instrumental EP under the name Kling, titled Kling EP. Its tracks were later incorporated into Zero 7's fourth album, Yeah Ghost, also released in 2009. The album included contributions from jazz and soul singer Eska Mtungwazi as well as folk artist Martha Tilston.
In June 2010, the duo released a retrospective compilation titled Record. A two-disc special edition contained exclusive remixes of songs from all four of their prior studio albums.
In subsequent years the duo's releases were limited to EPs and singles:
• "On My Own" b/w "Don't Call It Love" - 2013
• Simple Science - EP, 2014
• EP3 - EP, 2015
• "Mono" (featuring Hidden) - 2018
• "Aurora" (featuring José González) - 2019
• "Swimmers" (featuring Jem Cooke) - 2019
• Shadows EP (feat. Lou Stone) - EP, 2021
In 2016, Henry Binns teamed up with Bo Bruce to form a group called Equador. Their releases include the album Bones of Man in 2016 and an EP titled Tribal War in 2018.
In March 2024, Zero 7 started teasing new music via social media. Then on April 3rd they released their first new single, "The Crowd", from forthcoming album with California west coast based artist Swim Surreal. They followed this with their second single "Bloom" released on May 15th. On June 5th they released "Don't Call it Love" along with a video. Finally, June 21st saw the release of the full length album In the Half Light, a nine-song collaboration with Swim Surreal. All songs were co-written and produced by Zero 7, essentially comprising the fifth Zero 7 album, their first since 2009.
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