Rebelski

Martin Roman Rebelski entered the world in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. Though he functions as the unofficial fourth member of Mancunian guitar trio the Doves, his solo work under that alias produces fragile mood-music vignettes that deliberately sidestep the group’s rock orientation. The 31-minute opening statement Thanks For Your Thoughts takes its name from a horse-themed skit on Chris Morris’s satirical series Brass Eye and assembles a concise set of instrumental pieces. Before joining the Doves or issuing his 2003 debut, Rebelski had spent years quietly generating material—much of it techno—without releasing most of it. The eight brief compositions on that album originated in sessions captured inside his parents’ residence, a detail referenced on the gentle finale “Dad’s Hifi.” During one uneventful Christmas at the family home he unearthed a long-forgotten childhood keyboard, sketched initial ideas on it, and committed the results to his father’s cassette recorder. He handled production and engineering duties himself while performing the majority of the parts. Composed for piano and a 1960s Wurlitzer, the resulting record emerged as a contemplative, understated work whose sensibilities overlapped at times with those of German artists the Notwist and Schneider TM. Its deeper lineage, however, traces to the classical minimalism of Erik Satie and John Cage, with the track “Three” additionally nodding to Steve Reich. Rebelski has observed that occupying the keyboard chair for a celebrated trio—both in the studio and onstage, a role he assumed through mutual acquaintances—presents no difficulty, since the arrangement spares him the full weight of the Doves’ promotional schedule. He has also supplied remixes for the revived Sub Sub on various single b-sides and has collaborated in the studio with Badly Drawn Boy.