Like many other European countries, France has a vast number of post-rock bands all over the place, but not many have good bands in so many corners and on so many levels. Pictures On Silence are just another example.
The Aix-En-Provence-based one-man-project Pictures On Silence released its debut EP a few months ago and it is really perfect in its construction. There are the slowly ascending songs in place like “Cut Off From The World” with its uptempo guitar lines following the well-embedded vocal samples. There is the wonderfully melancholic minor key-introduction to “Etiquette”. That the next part of the track is then puctuated with high-pitched notes that sound a bit industrial just gives the whole storm another element that makes it really great to listen to.
When the final track “Sinking” comes up we hear some very high notes, which might even be a vibraphone but it is a synth, that is just used very well to give the song a “drowning” element - fitting for track of the same name.
There are a lot of things on this EP that sound like Caspian or This Will Destroy You but one should admit that there are worse bands to draw your inspiration from. Yes, Fred Bressan, the songwriter behind Pictures On Silence, has listened to a lot of Post-Rock, that is clear. And yes, he might not have added something new to the canon, but there definitely are clear hints at what might follow with the next record. Therefore witness this project-in-the-making so you won’t regret having seen the progression next time around!
