Moving Mountains / Waves / Triple Crown Records
Foreword gutted listeners. It’s complexity, built from post-rock strings and climatic arrangements sketched something new. The EP tore alternative admirers away from what they were already attached to, blindly introducing them to an afflicting form of misery, an ache found in albums like Bright Eyes’ Lifted Or The Story.. and The National’s High Violet. The only difference: Moving Mountains are loud. Succeeding the 2008 disc, Waves fulfills in how it acts concise, letting atmospheric breakdowns evolve and fade with an exit that can be serene (“The Cascade”) or bitterly genuine (“Parts In Different Places”). It isn’t as striking in the sense textured explorations aren’t given enough room to breathe by themselves (“Once Rendering”), and thus can’t harness the hooking nature Moving Mountains are known to exhibit when their pitch drops.
Instead, the band balances aggression with compassion. Gregory Dunn’s voice ranges from a collected wail to an imposing yell, keeping “Always Only For Me” composed and setting the band’s energy aflame on “Alleviate”, a track that swells with momentum before it cuts deep. Dunn’s sympathetic lyrics are distressed, but they flatter Moving Mountains chords and poetic surges. “I can hear it in your voice, I can see it in your veins / I’ll put poison in your heart,” he explains, drained and tired of being conflicted, emotions still embodied in him since the band’s debut Pneuma. Brush aside the sympathetic half, and Waves deafens with the volume turned up (“Where Two Bodies Lie”), proving the almost three years of anticipation since Foreword were well worth the wait.
Download: “My Life Is Like A Chase Dream..”, “Always Only For Me”
[Find more album reviews, news updates and videos on Twitter]
Nice comments… i agree.
Sometimes i feel like i´m hearing 30 SEC TO MARS… thank god they are way more deep in they lyrics and ambient sounds… but they turn into something really more easy listening wich isn´t bad at all… PNEUMA was excellent but you really need to listen the entire album to get the whole theme of the album and get a clue of what the lyrics talk about… in WAVES you can choose a song randomly and get more easy the meaning of the lyrics (THE CASCADE in IMAO is my fav).
BEST ALMBUM OUT SINCE PNEUMA OUT OF ANY BAND I WASNT SURE SINCE IT JUST WASNT THE SAME AS THE LAST TOO BUT THIS BEAUTIFUL MUSIC MAKES MY GOOCH TINGLE WITH GREATNESS THIS SHIT ITS TIGHT IM ABOUT TO ROLL THE F OUT ON MISSION WITH SOME MOVING MOUNTIANS BLOWIN UP MY HUMVEE BABYYYYYYYY~-!!!
This album behaved exactly how I imagined the newest Moving Mountains album would. Pneuma and Foreword were both good albums the first few times I listened to them, but nothing I would call excellent. Something in the music drew me back in now and then for a listen, though. And about two months or so after first listening to each they had grown into some of my all time favorite recordings. Waves was exactly the same. Okay first impressions, but originally I thought it was a massive step back. Now it’s my favorite album of the year by far. It displays raw emotion in a way that most bands can only dream of. This is not catchy, first-time-you-hear-it-the-song-is-stuck-in-your-head-all-day music. This is more thoughtful and unique, and it doesn’t click until you’ve listened to it for awhile. In my experience, the latter kind of music remains incredible for years and years after no matter how much you listen to it, while the former usually fades into an annoying jingle that you only enjoy listening to once a year, if even. This album completely cemented my obsessive love affair with Moving Mountains, despite mostly negative first impressions.