Brian Crook, Bathysphere (CD)

I'm a fan of Brian Crook's work, especially the 2 Terminals records that he's on and the Renderers' A Dream of the Sea. He made his first solo album Bathysphere in 1999, around the same time as all of those albums. It's a bit of a cross-section of his ideas, where ambient instrumentals poke up against melodic songs, and his excellent guitar playing is a consistent feature throughout. It lacks both the Terminals' intensity and Maryrose Crook's vocals that are such a beautiful focus of the Renderers' work, but it's a nice laid-back listening experience that he obviously enjoyed making.