Chris Reimer played guitar in Women, one of the best bands of the last fifteen years, and was a touring guitarist for the Dodos. His guitar playing in Women was remarkable and he helped make that band's sound what it was: sharp, imperious, and weird. Reimer passed away in his sleep in February 2012.Besides his work in Women and the Dodos, Reimer had also worked on his own compositions, instrumental jams, drone pieces, and soft, hazy loops. "Hello People" is a collection of his solo work and it's a wonderful listen. You can hear the creativity and imagination he brought to Women in these songs, and his customarily expressive playing. "Waving Goodbye From a Tree" is a fantastic example--it starts with a blizzard of notes on the guitar (very much in the tone of what he used to play in Women) that dissolves into calmer acoustic plucking and the kind of prickly strumming that you hear on early Microphones songs. Drums enter. It all builds to a culmination about two minutes in, a plaintive and searching song. The album has a handful of songs, like "Waving Goodbye.." and "About," "Hongdi" and "Mustard Gas" that have more traditional song structures (even some gentle singing on "About"), and others that are more free-form or experimental, like "Malchhovish" or "Arpeg" (which sounds like a kind of pastoral Aphex Twin), along with some intensely pretty drones (like "Beneluxx"). It's clear from the album that Reimer was an endlessly curious artist and he had the talent to pursue all of these different modes. "Hello People" is a beautiful collection of his work. You can find out more about Reimer and his work at the Chris Reimer Legacy Fund.[Pre-order Hello People]