Our fast-talkin' man at the Beeb and mates deliver a slow-burning soul album
(Herald rating * * * * *)
Whether in his days at Auckland's Max TV or on his hip-hop trio Urban Disturbance's sole album, it has been clear that Zane Lowe and his mouth were going places.
As one of the stars of the BBC's Radio 1 he has achieved a profile that has no real equivalent here. He's attempted to keep his ear in on the musical side, too.
There was the 1997 Breaks Co-Op debut Roofers, which sounded very much a product of Britain's trip-hop years. Now, eight years later, under the same slightly misplaced name and now joined by Englishman Andy Lovegrove, comes a second.
It may have hip-hop, trip-hop, and breaks roots, but The Sound Inside doesn't feel that way. It's largely a glacial, folk-soul singalong thing.
There's barely an indulgent moment among its 13 tracks, many of which are sweet-harmony, heart-on-sleeve numbers of acoustic guitars and enchanting tunes, mainly thanks to Lovegrove's lovely folk-falsetto.
They can remind of many things: 80s Brit-soul outfit The Christians on the more anthemic numbers; R.E.M. in ballad mode on Last Night; Pink Floyd on the closing Twilight; or DJ Shadow having his way with TrinityRoots on the extended centrepiece Duet; or doing something with a long-lost Maori showband classic on Ima.
But the strangely Grandmaster Flash-like rap on Settle Down and the outbreak of sitars and global consciousness on Lay Me Down are a little irksome. Otherwise it's a beguiling piece of work.
It might be a product of a London home studio but it's music of wide open spaces and sun. The artwork might be dropping a heavy hint but it seems the man from Urban Disturbance has become a master of tripped-out Coastal Serenity. The late-arriving album of the late-arriving summer.
