Redstart

Redstart seem to have started out of a happy accident. Having performed in 2000 as a one-off event, the quintet stuck together. Front-woman Wendy Lewis has a distinct vocal style that at once seems stripped down but highly expressive, although don’t expect it to be all that pretty. While not unpleasant, Lewis’s voice has a bare bones quality to it. It is perfectly suited to the arrangements that rise up around her, provided by multi-instrumentalists Jeremy Ylvisaker, Michael Lewis, Martin Dosh and Greg Lewis. Redstart’s music rises up in small doses, taking a minimalist approach for much of the time, although there are moments, like on "Speechless,” that show some small combustions of bigger sound. For the most part, though, So Far From Over plays out in a style that seems to favour white space, whispers and small accents of sounds. It also plays on Redstart’s collective talents and influences; "Stone,” for example, seems to at times pick up hints of Greg Lewis’s jazz background. There are many visceral and melancholy moments throughout, as well, especially on "Not the Same” and "Alien Day,” which pick up slight, sad twangs throughout.