Artist: A Silent Film
Album: The CIty That Sleeps
Label: Xtra Mile Recordings
Release date: 06/10/08
Link: www.myspace.com/asilentfilm
Buy: Amazon UK
A number of years ago something special happened in Oxford, Radiohead happened. A number of years later that very city produced another band called A Silent Film. Taking an awful lot of inspiration from the god like Radiohead, this Oxfordian quartet haven’t quite produced Radiohead quality music here but for a debut this is pretty darn special.
It’s not as progressive as post Kid A Radiohead but it certainly has the warmth of In Rainbows, especially on opener ‘Sleeping Pills’. As the next few songs unfold I got the impression that as well as appreciating what Radiohead do, they probably enjoy the odd bit of Coldplay too. Not really the slower more romantic Coldplay but more the ethereal and epic pop Coldplay (just check out ‘You Will Leave A Mark’). I think the very mention of that band in a review could be perceived as a bad thing but it really shouldn’t. I won’t go off on one about how much I love Coldplay because for a start it’s not true but what I will say is that the songs they do well, they do very well indeed. I think A Silent Film know this too and it definitely works for them. The piano driven sound is extremely captivating.
Don’t expect a watered down affair though, this band still sound destructive at times, especially on ‘Gerontion’ which reminds me a lot of Muse, or even Oceansize if you want an idea of what the vocals are like.
I think the most striking thing about this album is just how non-stop it is. It just never seems to slow down at all, which I really like. Most bands can’t get away with this but in their case it works and I got completely lost in this album. As far as bad points go i cant really mention many apart from the fact the a few of the songs needed a much stronger chorus. If they had worked on those songs a bit more I really think this could have been a classic album rather than just a very good one.
Rating: 7.8/10
6 responses so far ↓
1 oliverx12 // Oct 4, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Thoughts?
2 marstonx12 // Oct 4, 2008 at 10:39 pm
certainly musically the radiohead juxtaposition works, not as epic, but it resides within the undercurrents, vocally i can’t pinpoint it, now listening to lamplight and undertones of vex red enter my mind in parts, but i think that mutually bound to the one song, hheh, im enjoying their offerings though…
3 oliverx12 // Oct 4, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Yeah i really enjoyed it
4 marstonx12 // Oct 4, 2008 at 10:42 pm
sleeping pills = incubus, lol… good stuff…
5 oliverx12 // Oct 4, 2008 at 10:43 pm
haha good call!
6 hannah // Nov 10, 2008 at 11:36 am
I think what is most striking about this album is the mix of at times quite depressing lyrics and “up beat music”. Take ‘Feather White’ or ‘Thirteen Times The Strength’…I was happily listening along to the music and then started to properly listen to the lyrics and coupled with the music it makes for a rather chilling but awesome song/songs! I think it’s quite clever - caught me off guard certainly.
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