Filmic: Peacock People

Filmic
Peacock People
Self Released
2007-05-02

I approach any disc by an unsigned band from the angle that anyone with the yayas to record and release their own music automatically has credit. The goodwill can wear off pretty quickly though. At best, the duo Filmic splice sampled vinyl into a communicable rhythm and flow. “Shadow Basin” is a swinging start. The excellent “The Effect of Sunlight on Paint” is 50% blissful collage, 50% New Zealand’s unofficial theme for the Summer Olympics 2050, and 100% groovy. “Tumbledown” attempts the wobbly underwater funk that Kid Koala can do in his sleep. With its opinions on reason and sensory motivation, “A Constant” comes off as a diluted audio companion to Michel Houellebecq’s Les particules élementaires. There are though, large swathes of this disc that left me feeling uninvolved. Filmic obviously aren’t short of confidence and given time and money who knows what they might do. For now though, I guess that one person’s smorgasbord is another’s poison, because despite Filmic covering a range of styles the end result lacks coherence.

RATING 4 / 10