Gareth Hardwick, The Danger of Scenic Walks (business card CD Low Point)
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I love the sheer audacity of these tiny so-called "business card" CDs that can carry no more than a brief taste of music. By their very existence, they proclaim, "This ought to be enough if you really care". Indeed; why guzzle down a whole bottle of single malt whiskey when one nice glass to savour will do?
Englishman Gareth Hardwick´s mini-offering almost makes six minutes of pleasantly plaited guitar drones, with a children´s book charcoal sketch on its cover of Little Red Ridinghood casting a disturbed glance over her shoulder at the wolf behind the trees. She needn´t worry, it all works out in the end, if the music is anything to go by.
Produced for sale on Hardwick´s April 2007 European tour, there appear to be some left over for sale to the rest of us. A little slice of ambient paradise, despite its foreboding title. But then again, I am safely ensconced at home, not wandering alone in unfamiliar forests.
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 09:29, 07 May 2007