Basement Jaxx - Zephyr

Basement Jaxx’s recent Scars album was mostly a solid affair, but felt too much like painting by pop-led numbers in places – meaning it fell short of being a real classic effort. Zephyr attempts to readdress the balance – a standalone collection of ambient and downtempo material. Or in their own words “the other side of Basement Jaxx….music for the mind…music to listen to at home and just kind of close your eyes to”
 
Peace Of Mind launches the set in unrecognisable fashion – the dusty feel and shimmering guitars recalling something around the Fleetwood Mac ballpark, with ethereal vocals completing the seductive, psychedelic feel. It’s drenched in treacly, druggy sluggishness, all hazy and hypnotic. Midway through it takes on an electronic, Balearic twist – a touch of vintage Jose Padilla in its collection of rolling percussion, husky vocal samples, sunny guitar strums and soft pads.
 
Years of the duo’s Ibizan sojourns continue to manifest themself on the glorious flamenco guitar, Latin drumming and shrill whistling of Alkazaar, while sitar stomping collapses into electronic glitching on Hip Hip Hooray. Walking In The Clouds is more recognisably Jaxx – a folky guitar loop blending with ploddy beats and all manner of random sound effects, tempered with bright R&B-style synths. Likewise Where Are We Now is something you’d expect to find on one of their usual albums – a lushly-orchestrated vocal anthem with musical-style crooning that wouldn’t have been amiss on a Zero 7 album either. Think Feelings Gone reworked for the stage.
 
Dark Vale is a manic electro stomp that you could imagine Daft Punk creating for their Tron soundtrack, while the treacle-slow slouch of Sunrising allows its sublime, spine-tingling sounds to make maximum impact amidst crackles of electricity. Ascension rounds off this min-album in a glorious flurry of colour and character that harks back to the early days of Basement Jaxx classics like Samba Magic (we’re talking pre-Remedy here); a carnival of jazzy double bass and drums, Latin instruments and percussion that sees the duo embracing their roots and inspirations without hugely reinterpreting them. A subtle homage, if you will.
 
Electronics are pared to the organic sounds in the most delicate and subtle of fashions on this album, while allowed to run rife at other points. It’s wonderful collection, and is over a little too soon (weighing in under 30 minutes). After the relative playing-it-safe of Scars, it’s great to hear them pushing boundaries and taking risks again – and perhaps they should have coupled it with Scars after all to make for a more balanced and memorable piece of work.