Album: Rebelski

Thanks For Your Thoughts, Heavenly

It used to be the case that keyboard-players' solo albums were, as a rule, best avoided like the plague, as they offered ill-advised opportunities for classically trained ivory-tinklers to bestow upon the world the ghastly sub-symphonic concept-albums that might better have remained works-in-progress for, say, another two decades or so. Since prog-rock crept back into its cave to winter, things have improved somewhat. The Doves sideman Martin Roman Rebelski now offers us Thanks for Your Thoughts, a slim anthology of instrumentals that locate beauty in simplicity rather than grandiosity: these eight short pieces are miniatures of mood, their basic themes left unburdened by excessive variation, never outstaying their welcome. In some cases, they may have a classical root – but rather than the Wagnerian bluster of prog-rock, it's the cool classicism of Satie, Cage or, in the case of "Three", the elegant minimalism of Steve Reich. Elsewhere, European film music provides apt comparison while the textures of "Tiddlywink" recall the Penguin Café Orchestra. With all but a few drum, bass and string parts overdubbed by Rebelski himself, some tracks can sound a little methodical, but his restless imagination and wide range of instrumentation ensures things never stay the same for long.