The Movements

Follow

Written by: PP on 22/09/2011 04:20:42

The legend says that The Movements from Sweden have been a band for ten years, which they are celebrating by releasing a new compilation record called "Follow". It features their long out-of-print six-track debut EP "Drag Me Up" in its entirety, plus another six unreleased tracks on top of that for good measure. I'll admit to never having heard of The Movements before this release, but based on the strength and quality of the material they present on especially the "Drag Me Up" part of the record, it's a mystery why they haven't reached at least moderate amounts of success internationally.

"Follow" basically consists of fuzzy garage rock that recalls the 60s and 70s psychedelia via some creative and occasionally crazy keyboards and an effects pedal that gets a proper kicking for the duration of the album. The former ranges from playful tunes that recall The Strokes to organ-like melodies and more ambitious space rock compositions, and each style fits well to what The Movements are trying to do here: to merge modern garage rock (think The Vines, The Hives, The Strokes etc) seamlessly with the progressive and psychedelic bands of the 70s, as well as the classic garage rock sound from the early days of the genre.

The resulting cocktail tastes like a retrospective, but it does so elegantly and without alienating us modern listeners. Fans of Pavement, and other quirky stuff like that will also appreciate the creativity and curious sounds that The Movements are able to pull out of their instruments while sounding coherent and structured. Space rocker "You Don't Know" is perhaps the best example of the latter, featuring rock'n'roll wails (think Rival Sons, Led Zeppelin etc) standing naturally next to a vibrant, but lo-fi production (typical to garage rock) and a complex soundscape overall. Sometimes, the band even ups the pace and reaches into punk rock, but never enough to justify that genre tag properly, because no matter which genre they explore, they always make it sound like their own, manic, crazed garage rock affair. And with songs like "My Confession", "In My Time" and "Thinking Too Fast" (which reminds me of a faster The White Stripes), there's no reason why The Movements shouldn't be much bigger than they are now.

Download: My Confession, You're Alone, In My Time
For the fans of: early The Strokes, Pavement, The Vines, The Mojomatics
Listen: Myspace

Release date 01.03.2011
Misty Lane / Teen Sound

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.