Comprising guitarist Will Pain, bassist Andy Page and drummer Mark Sanger, this instrumental trio bely their home county roots with angular, progressively minded music that’s rock- muscular, indie-intelligent and prog-dynamic. Rhoda May have everything it takes to tear the nu-prog scene a new one very soon, except a singer.
Sessions combines the two live EPs they released last year, 347 and 389, and this numerical titling is also applied to the their compositions too (#3, #4, #7, etc). You do wonder if this is a stylistic choice, or a function of their not having a singer, and thus no lyrics, from which to draw song titles.
Pain has a brilliant grasp of rhythm and lead, hooks and colouration, and Page and Sanger not only sound fantastic in your cans but also have an inherent grasp of Led Zep-style stomp and big post-U2/Muse dynamics.
For sure, all three clearly probably have playlists on their iPods featuring everyone from Rush to Tool to the Futureheads, but to capitalise on their talent, top of their New Year Resolutions list has to be ‘get a singer’. With the right fourth member in place to give us that extra dimension, that portal into their world, the sky really could be the limit.
