Hidden depths

A pair of Kiwi artists with more to them than their names suggest. BY GRAHAM REID

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A DEEPER LIFE by Chaos in The CBD

Given how often newsreaders here resort to “chaos” (describing otherwise non-events on roads, sales at shopping malls and so on), London-based Kiwi brothers Louis and Ben Helliker-Hale - who are Chaos in The CBD - clearly have an ironic eye on things back home. Down By the Cove, the opening instrumental of A Deeper Life, establishes a pastoral ambience with bird song and restful repetition.

The equally mellow Mountain Mover that follows with South London guitarist Alex Cosmo Blake, sits between smooth urban jazz and liquid atmospherics.

And the slightly more racing tempos of Love Language, featuring the polished saxophone of Nathan Haines, and the moody title track (with Bangkok-based producer/trumpeter Isaac Aesili) also evoke a very chilled-out night by the hotel pool, where twinkling lights are wound around the palm trees and party-goers have mostly moved on. Even the percussion-prominent Brain Gymnasium doesn't sound too far from a beach.