Chill-out music gets a bad press. Yet for every Zero 7, there’s an Air. More the latter than the former, say hello to Bombay Dub Orchestra aka producer Garry Hughes and composer Andrew T. Mackay.

Signed to kooky Californian label Six Degrees who, in their own words, “strive to create releases that stand out from the pack and offer a real alternative to consumers who are looking to discover new sounds from around the world”, the duo bridge the East-West divide. First writing the music in their respective UK studios, Mackay and Hughes then added samples to give them an idea of what the album would sound like. Before travelling to Mumbai, the city formerly known as Bombay, in March 2005 and recording a 28-piece string session (12 violins, 8 violas and 8 cellos) by day and leading Indian classical musicians, including sitar and tabla players plus singers, by night to replace the samples.

The result is orchestration lusher than your average spring meadow. This is music to recline to, but there’s sufficient variety on BDO’s self-titled debut to ensure your eyelids remain at least ajar. If one song epitomizes the whole project it’s ‘The Berber of Seville’, showcasing the vocal talents of one Khalid Kharchaf, a Berber singer from Morocco via London's Portobello Road.

For dub lovers, the album might be a bit of a disappointment. As Mackay reveals, they chose to include Dub in their name because of Hughes’ background in the genre, experience which has included recording with Sly and Robbie. Yet the second disc, made up of remixes of album tracks, features some reggae-tinged re-workings at least.

According to Mackay, Hughes and he set out to make “a record that we would both like to sit down and listen to.” I’m guessing the duo won’t be sitting and listening to it alone for long. And perhaps then chill-out music will start to get a better press.
(3½/5)

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