The Somatics - Dynamo Mercurial (Misc Records)
2/5
By: Chris Pratt
I'm currently sitting in front of a blank Microsoft Word document pondering exactly how I'm going to stretch my meagre views on the second album from Leeds-based three piece The Somatics over some four hundred or so words. To start with, you might be interested to know that singer and guitarist Richard Green once made his living as axe-man and key songwriter with Wakefield's only (to my knowledge) indie-prog titans Ultrasound (who disintegrated near the end of the last millennium). Green's musical background might have you thinking that this isn't likely to be easy listening in any sense of the word, and at fifty three minutes for just seven songs you wouldn't be far wrong.
Opener 'Mercury Rising' shuffles along ominously, gently but firmly led by insistent drums, subtle bass and plenty of reverb on the unassuming guitar line, until a couple of minutes in when mountainous chords tear through the meticulously crafted atmosphere, heralding four minutes of varying degrees of feedback and howling distortion. Then 'Elemental''s swaggering intro riff signals the album's most unashamedly retro moment, with everything from the dream-pop harmonies to the rolling bassline pointing squarely in the vague direction of the late-60's.
On subsequent, less memorable songs, The Somatics make like a more cinematic Barrett-era Floyd on 'Rebound' with its heavily pronounced English vowel sounds, and go all My Bloody Valentine-shaped on the woozy closer 'Ghosts,' with perfectly balanced vocal interplay between Richard and his bass-playing other half, Stephanie Green.
Admittedly there is some great moments on here, not least the hip-shakingly percussive outro to 'Remote' and some inspired guitar work in places - but 'Dynamo Mercurial' is undeniably way overlong. Ending every song with a couple of minutes of feedback just isn't necessary these days, and the over-egged effects pedals detract from some rather fine choruses.
If you prefer the psyched-out, stomp-box driven sections of The Mars Volta's songs to their yelp-tastic choruses then you'll probably dig most of this record, but if you find wasting your time on often aimless guitar wizardry a dire prospect then you'll perhaps want to give The Somatics' sophomore effort a wide berth.
Artists in this article: The Somatics
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