A Silent Film is an Oxford quartet recently invited by the BBC to play Glastonbury. Apparently, during live shows, lead singer Robert Stevenson performs with a leather bound book at his side. The book is then projected onto a screen behind the band as they play amidst a variety of television sets placed around the stage showing all kinds of weird and wonderful imagery. Neat. But what about the music?
The band's love of old movies such as Chaplin, Keaton and early post vaudeville talkies like the Marx Brothers is apparent after repeated listens of their debut EP entitled The Projectionist. Opening track The Lamplight serves up a dose of sturdy and controlled melodrama. Piano-led Six Feet of Rope and Revenge is the highlight of the EP. The agitated throbber possesses a decadent quality and could pass as a modern interpretation of Henry Mancini's darker themes. However, the EP loses all momentum at this point. Sleeping Pills is the kind of generic, juvenile-sounding filler one would expect to hear from novices at a small town Battle of the Bands competition, whereas the less said about Chromatic Eyes (and the migraine-inducing clapping) the better.
There is definitely potential here. The problem is that despite the solid musicianship, the band's sound is not as colossal and groundbreaking as it purports to be, resulting in a classic case of elevated expectations being disappointed. Despite citing artists such as Bjork, Rufus Wainwright, Antony and the Johnsons and Radiohead as influences, the band fits the Snow Patrol and, dare I say it, Keane mould more naturally. To borrow a line from Jerry Seinfeld, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." However, the quartet could surely benefit from an honest appraisal rather than hyperbolic comparisons which do not fit the bill.
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