It’s been less than six years since Movements formed in early 2015, but this California four-piece have already found their musical niche, shining brightly among their peers. But if ‘Feel Something’ was a shooting star, ‘No Good Left to Give’ is a goddamn supernova. And what a relief that is.
Following on from their 2017 album ‘Feel Something’, the band’s sophomore record was always going to have a lot to live up to – the most popular tracks from their debut clearly hitting the hearts of many, with fan favourite ‘Daylily’ boasting over 15 million streams on Spotify to date – but never did we believe it would exceed expectations with such ease.
For those of us who find solace in music that reflects our own experiences, this record will be perfect for you, particularly if your experiences have been a little dark and troubling at times. Equal parts stunning and devastating, each track brings with it a new theme bedded in post-hardcore / alt rock music that will consistently see your hairs standing on end. There’s no sufficient way to articulate the electrical current that will course through you from head to toe, and you’ll regularly feel your eyes fill with tears in reaction to such sensations. And that’s before you’ve even taken a second to digest the beautifully crafted lyrical content.
Filled with crescendos that build up to soaring choruses that are – unfortunately, given the circumstances – made for a live environment, this album is sewn together meticulously, each track glowing in its own right. Opening track ‘In My Blood’ feels like an extended intro, as though the whole song is building up so that the rest of the record can thrive. It’s here where you’ll first understand that this album will have you feeling things you don’t understand, as you feel the loss in your chest before they’re depicted in the lyrics.
The idea that ‘No Good Left to Give’ could have almost as much impact as an instrumental is really cemented in ‘Skin to Skin’ – a self proclaimed sensual number that tells a story of shameless sexual desperation, professing love through touch, and of living deep in the moment. This sensuality is not only expressed through lyrics, but also through the track’s varying tempo and power, making its impact even stronger.
But if ‘Skin to Skin’ ignites one kind of fire in you, ‘Don’t Give Up Your Ghost’ will ignite another – one sparked by love and fear for those closest to you, and for a society that continues to be plagued by mental health issues and, more specifically, suicide. The message – presented through a strong, steady drum beat, fierce secondary vocals, and a sad yet sure riff – is clear: Tell your friends you care. That you’re here, fighting right alongside with them. This is an important track, and will undoubtedly provide some with the words they’ve been unable to find within themselves to support those closest to them.
Where ‘Don’t Give Up Your Ghost’ is something of a guide for the friends of those in need, ‘Tunnel Vision’ will hit hardest for those facing demons of their own. Vocalist Patrick Miranda boasts the strongest vocals we’ve heard from him so far, incorporating dirty strains among the familiar sweetness, as he addresses the struggle of escaping the dark depths of depression and struggling to see any kind of light. This is Movements at their heaviest and darkest, showing a new side to them that will be embraced by most.
As we’ve already seen so far, the tracks that make up ‘No Good Left to Give’ consistently touch upon topics that come from a place of unconditional care and wanting to make things better, and as the band takes a more pop-punk turn with ‘Garden Eyes’, this supportive nature becomes even more deeply ingrained into their core. The song’s catchy chorus takes an outside view on the life of someone who deserves better before gently transitioning into the more acoustically driven ‘12 Weeks’ which causes you to take an introspective and retrospective look back on the pain you may have caused. In both instances, you’re left with a hopelessness that comes from not being able to change a situation, and a frustration that can only come with caring too much.
This empathy seems almost destructive at times, and it’s hard not to feel as though Miranda is taking the weight of the world on his shoulders, not least when viewing life from the perspective of someone struggling to come out in the LGBTQ community for fear of judgement or rejection. It’s easy to see, then, why they may need some respite from the darkness, and the comfort that comes in the form of ‘Santiago Peak’ offers that slight respite. For a moment, the weight lifts from your chest and you feel genuine relief that Miranda has somewhere he can “come back and restart”.
This break is short-lived, however, as the dark tones of ‘Seneca’ bring you back to reality with riffs that will shatter your heart beyond repair as you find yourself looking back at your own romantic history with a wistful nostalgia for a love that never was, and yet paradoxically always will be, too. Every track is a highlight – it’s genuinely a chore to find fault with a single moment – but ‘Seneca’ will surely rise to being a fan favourite across not just the album, but the band’s whole discography. After all, who doesn’t love a good cathartic cry?
Wipe your tears away though, as the pace picks up somewhat with ‘Moonlight Lines’ – rapid drums driving the track and mirroring the pace of the one night stand that it depicts. It’s the first track of the album that incorporates spoken lyrics and they’re a welcome addition to the eclecticism of Miranda’s vocal delivery. Here we’re brought straight back to sex, though this time it’s less about forging an emotional connection and more about being entirely void of emotion altogether. There’s a level of guilt here that makes it less sexy and more regretful, and it fits perfectly into the album as a result.
The final tracks are two parts of one whole piece; ‘No Good Left to Give’ a poem that sees Love and Emptiness as tangible, co-dependent entities. In just over a minute and a half, the slow track highlights that to love is to lose, an idea that is expanded upon in the album’s closing track, ‘Love Took the Last of It’. Reaching further into the experience of love, loss and emptiness, it’s a perfectly apt choice to close off these 12 tracks as there’s been an element of all of these things throughout.
What Movements have produced here is nothing short of magnificent. You will want to scream, cry and disappear all at the same time, but somehow you will come out feeling stronger for embracing all of those things, and for allowing yourself to give in to your emotions. This is an album that will linger in your bones – even when your mind is elsewhere – for years to come.
YASMIN BROWN