Cinemathique

After an amorphous couple of records, Tuatara seems to have found its true voice as a soundtrack band. Essentially, soundtrack music is what Cinemathique is all about, albeit of a very high quality, so smoothly written and performed that you often don't notice the depth of what's happening underneath — and that's a compliment. For what's really a supergroup, the bandmembers hide their personalities under a barrel, or perhaps behind the chameleon qualities of the music itself, which can shift from Third-era Soft Machine on "Love Is a Calculated Risk" to the John Barry-esque "A Thin Gray Pickpocket," to the romance of "Farewell to the Hero." Barrett Martin is a subtle powerhouse of percussion throughout, while everyone else layers slickly on top of him to create music that would seem perfectly at home in a Hollywood film or even a '70s cop show ("Action Thriller"). It's the fact that each piece transmits its mood so well that makes this a success, from the gamelan opening of "The Melting Sun" to the lush ambience of the misleadingly titled "Falling Pianos." So yes, it has Martin, Peter Buck, and other illustrious (and unknown) names, but they're not the point. In this instance, it's the music that does the talking. And with Cinemathique, one (aural) picture is worth a thousand words.