TOOMAS VANEM - I

Estonian composer and guitarist Toomas VANEM is a veteran in the Estonian music scene, with a decades long history as an active musician that involves a couple of dozen bands, projects or thereabouts. "I" Is his first ever solo album, self-released in 2014 with support from Eesti Kultuurkapital.

While a lot can be said about the versatility of Vanem as an instrumentalist, about how his material appears to be well developed and often with an approach and style that should suit fans of progressive rock and metal fairly well, at the end of the day this is still the solo album of a guitarist. A well made one at that, accomplished and fairly sophisticated, but it remains an instrumental album dominated by the skills of a guitar player. Those who treasure such productions will obviously be the main audience for it as well. In addition, I'd say that this is a nice album to give a spin if you're curious about such ventures, or if you want to sample such an album made by one who has assembled it in a manner that may and probably will appeal a bit beyond the defined key audience.