Redhooker  - Vespers (Independent) Where do we start with this one? Anyone with rock music in their veins might blanch from this, whereas I doubt anyone with a classical bent would accept it as part of their musical world. So, this 60 minute, 6 track album is positioned where these disparate genres almost but not quite overlap. The established audience for this type of music has been listening to Rachel’s since the mid-90’s, or possibly God Speed You Black Emperor, without the grandstanding. If more modern influences are heard they are of a minimalist nature, and Michael Nyman (as with Rachel’s) occasionally springs to mind. The music is beautiful, pure and simple, and not just because it is in this idiom. For me, a direct comparison would be the L.A. rock band Isis, whose heavy, heavy rock is also, to me, pure, simple, and beautiful. Both these bands, as far apart musically as the peaks of the Rockies and the plains of Kansas are geographically, depend upon lengthy material, with a certain form of repetition, which has to simmer awhile before evolving and re-structuring itself, before moving on to the next unit of sound collage that is to be made. As you might expect, the playing is exemplary, and the ideas within each soundscape are bold and expertly ‘jointed’. This is for those moments in the day when you are at peace, and you have that feeling that you deserve to give yourself a treat. One day a foot massage maybe, or an early glass of wine; or the sofa to yourself, and this playing on the stereo. Personally I would opt for this almost every time (and maybe have the wine as well, eh?). www.myspace.com/redhooker Kev A.   Next