For those of you out there who felt that Zero 7's sophomore effort When It Falls was a bit too derivative of their debut Simple Things (which should be just about everyone), The Garden is quite a welcome surprise. Yes, Zero 7 are still mining that lounge-esque electronic sound that Air's Moon Safari floored everyone with back in the late 90's, and yes, Sia is back yet again contributing vocals to half of yet another Zero 7 album, but there's just a certain pleasantness and a hint of originality here that's tough not to like.

For one, Sia's vocal contributions on The Garden are far superior to anything off her last tedious solo album. Tracks like "The Pageant of the Bizarre" and "This Fine Social Scene" show that she can be vocally ferocious and sincerely soulful when she wants to be. If Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker could just be in charge of everything she does, maybe she would stop doing that Tori Amos lite dreck on her own. The other big plus is the recruitment of Sweden's own Jose Gonzalez for the other half of the vocals. Anyone who heard Gonzalez's Nick Drake inspired debut Veneer last year would have to be curious as to why Zero 7 would want him for this kind of project. However, Gonzalez turns out to be The Garden's secret weapon. Every time he steps up to proverbial plate, he swings for the fence and knocks the living daylights out of it. Album opener "Futures" and the Radiohead style leanings of "Today" are the two best tracks on The Garden hands down. By tweaking their approach just a smidge, but keeping that sound that makes Zero 7 an essential group in their own right, Binns and Hardaker finally have a record worthy of following up the brilliance that was Simple Things.