Somatic are a boy/boy/girl called Damien, Bernie and Fleur, the sort of lineup which invites immediate comparisons with the likes of One Dove, Saint Etienne and, not a million miles away from the ground they tread, Portishead. Somatic aspire to make cinematic, widescreen music, and to this end all of their songs seem to be cushioned in huge brass and string arrangements, the kind of thing Neil Hannon (Mr Divine Comedy) might reject for being too elaborate. Sometimes they play the cheese card a little too strongly as well, some songs veering too closely to the likes of Combustible Edison for comfort. But when Somatic push the button, you end up with something like "Go Between", a happy collision of gospel, hip-hop, the smack of real drums and Fleur’s honey ‘n’ sass vocals. Songs such as "Throwing For Six", "Rocking Chair" and "No. 9" would clearly love to be huge slabs of late 60s film soundtrack ballads, Bacharach to the core, but have become agreeably smudged and defocused in translation - they wooze and sway unpredictably in a manner that sets them apart from the more strictly regimented and programmed output of, for example, Portishead.
