Demos

The Picture Show - An Introduction / Close

Owain Paciuszko 10/06/2008

Rating: 3/5

Not content with just releasing their single 'Close', The Picture Show have produced a multi-media CD with a short film allowing us to meet the band. But, first the music (this is a music review after all and I won't let bands get away with blatant cross-culture point-scoring bribery); 'Close' is a half-hollered indie-riff-a-long that is very similar to Travis's grumpy album '12 Memories' (which I actually really liked). Shockingly though, this song serves to illustrate how good a songwriter Fran Healy (from Travis) actually can be, as this is a bit of a mess, it splashes along with insistent drums and a pretty nice guitar line; but it's never enough to make an indentation. B-Side 'The Revolutionary' manages to twist the ear a touch more, with a rather silly synth noise over the chorus and a pleasingly brief runtime, alas lead-singer Alexei Chityan's vocals occupy that wailing Matt Bellamy territory that only Matt Bellamy really gets away with. Third and final B-Side 'Oslo' actually seems like the most suited for singledom, Chityan restrains his vocal a touch, and there's a decent song-structure to be had; though it's all still very early-Muse-lite.

The 'short film' is a rather sloppily produced little EPK, mixing low-angled footage of the band performing with little snippets of an interview in a pub. It's all a tad E4.