MOVEMENTS - NO GOOD LEFT TO GIVE
Zoe shares her thoughts on the upcoming Movements release, No Good Left To Give, and lets you know whether she thinks you should listen or not.
There’s nothing difficult about Californian quartet Movements’ second album No Good Left To Give - providing the perfectly moody soundtrack to your cold, dark evenings with honest lyrics about matters we’ve all experienced before.
Kicking off with ‘In My Blood’, you’re teleported into a gentle atmospheric yet building track about a great loss. As always, vocalist Patrick Miranda pours his heart out – knowing when to let go and voice his raw, heavy emotions in the totally relatable way only he knows how.
Singles ‘Skin To Skin’, ‘Don’t Give Up Your Ghost’ and most recently released ‘Tunnel Vision’ come next, knocking you in all kinds of directions with sucker punches of pure post-punk riffs, heavy vocals and delicate moments of true emotional reflection.
‘Garden Eyes’ offers a faultless drumbeat from Spencer York, moving the song along with the pace it needs given its inherently pop undertones. It’s still uniquely Movements as we know them, never taking you out of the carefully constructed mood of the album and offering a sincere yet upbeat song about watching someone you love making the wrong choices time and time again. It’s infectious in a good way and definitely a song that you’d be more than happy to put on repeat.
“This song is about knowing you’ve caused someone pain and wondering if they’d be better off if you were gone,” the band states regarding ‘12 Weeks’ - their signature guitar style effortlessly interweaving with the push and pull of callback style vocals as Miranda explores the subject of never really needing to exist.
An instantly recognisable topic for many is explored on ‘Living Apology’ – a song about living life in the closet and never wanting to come out of the safe bubble you’ve created for yourself. The idea of opening up and allowing people to see your true self is daunting, and the song is telling in how much it gives away itself. “My skin becomes calloused to make sure you won’t find the rest of me hiding underneath,” belts Miranda as he talks about a feeling many of us have faced with any secret we’ve kept, whilst soothing guitars and an emotive drumbeat help solidify the seriousness of the track.
‘Santiago Peak’ does a 180 on the typical pop-punk trope of hating your hometown, with the band giving homage to where they’re from and experiencing regret of never truly realizing how important it was to them until it was too late.
Another relatable subject of “the one that got away,” comes from ‘Seneca’ – gently taking you on a journey of heartbreak with an atmospheric soundtrack leaving you looking off in the distance and thinking about your greatest loss.
‘Moonlight Lines’ is one of those songs you can’t help but want to see live, Miranda offering spoken word amongst choppy drums and relentless guitars. “It’s safe to admit that we both only wanted to spend the night just to feel less alone,” begins the explosive chorus that you just want to sing at the top of your lungs.
Title track ‘No Good Left To Give’ might not be the most complex, but the piano-laden ballad gives you an insight into how Miranda feels about how love and emptiness can coexist and tie into each other no matter how much you might not want them to.
The album closes with another surprisingly upbeat track, given its subject matter. ‘Love Took The Last Of It’ piggy backs on the previous song, looking at how love causes emptiness and heartbreak. It’s heartfelt in the way that you want it to be, pulling off the graceful back and forth of gentle twinkling guitar reprieves and carefully layered full band choruses that are so unique to Movements as a whole.
Whilst some may be disappointed with an overall lack of heavier material on this record, Movements prove that no matter what genre they choose they can pull it off seamlessly. Their newfound maturity is ever-present throughout and there’s no denying that they can craft some of the most flawless songs in the post-punk sub-genre.
Zoe Coxon
★★★★☆