{"id":6732,"date":"2014-11-26T05:30:32","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T10:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=6732"},"modified":"2014-11-26T05:30:32","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T10:30:32","slug":"album-review-the-movements-like-elephants-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2014\/11\/26\/album-review-the-movements-like-elephants-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Movements — Like Elephants II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Less than a year after releasing Like Elephants I<\/em> (reviewed separately<\/a>), The Movements<\/strong> came back with 2014’s Like Elephants II<\/em>. And the two discs truly are of a piece: sonically related, thematically linked. In fact, with a combined run time of just shy of 80 minutes, The Movements could have combined the entire work onto a single disc. But having done so would have overstuffed the resulting work: by the time one got to the material that comprises Like Elephants II<\/em>, that music’s charms might not get the attention and appreciation they deserve.<\/p>\n

The reverbed guitar lines that accent “Six Feet Under\u201d give the tune an epic, cinematic feel; the tom-heavy drum work creates a feeling of anticipation, and the George Harrison<\/strong>-styled slide guitar (often in unison with single-note organ lines) fits perfectly. \u201cStolen Love\u201d delivers on the promise of more minor-key psych-pop. \u201cIcecold\u201d is a companion piece to Like Elephants I<\/em>‘s \u201cShady Wind.\u201d The insistent beat of \u201cGive it to Me\u201d heightens the tension quotient.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody Needs Something\u201d is space rock a la Nektar<\/strong>; notes are often left hanging in the air, and the spaces between them create drama. It’s a sort of Shadow Morton<\/strong> meets The Lords of the New Church<\/strong>, with psychedelic guitar for extra effect. And after all that, a comedown is necessary: \u201cRedemption\u201d serves that purpose expertly. Its deliberate pace is adorned with keening pedal steel, gentle electric piano and a fragile lead vocal.<\/p>\n

With that song’s countrified feel fresh in your mind, the mania of \u201cYesterday, Now and Forever\u201d feels like cowpunk crossed with psych rock: space cowboy music, perhaps? \u201cLike Elephants II\u201d has little in common with the previous disc’s title track; the droning organ sounds more like a harmonium here, and the ghostly guitar accents take on a vaguely North African feel.<\/p>\n

But then it’s back to hypnotic guitar pop, with densely layered vocal harmonies for \u201cWinter’s Calling.\u201d An extended vamp provides a sympathetic bed upon which the band adds an extended, wah-wah guitar solo. As the track unfolds, the arrangement heads father toward the outer reaches of psychedelia, with what one might call structured jamming.<\/p>\n

Like Elephants II<\/em> closes in similar fashion to its companion disc. \u201cWhat Would Happen If I Tried\u201d rewards those who’ve hung on for the full ride. Heavily distorted organ lines are joined by acoustic guitars and hand-held percussion. A vulnerable lead vocal enters, joined by swooning guitar figures, all atop a simple, two-chord foundation. The instruments fade, leaving behind a heavily echoed repeat of the the song’s title.<\/p>\n

I remember how pleased I was when I discovered Porcupine Tree<\/strong> around the time of the release of Fear of a Blank Planet<\/em>: not only was that a great album, but the band already had a catalog nearly two dozen discs deep. So I had a lot of digging to to, and greatly enjoyed nearly all of it. I’m equally intrigued to explore The Movements’ back catalog, a collection of four or so albums dating back to 2005. It will be interesting to hear if the sound as presented on Like Elephants<\/em> is present on their earlier work, or if the current approach is one they grew into. Meanwhile, look for Like Elephants I <\/em>and II<\/em> on my Best of 2014 lists, coming in late December.<\/p>\n

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Less than a year after releasing Like Elephants I (reviewed separately), The Movements came back with 2014’s Like Elephants II. And the two discs truly are of a piece: sonically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,57,62,65],"tags":[2087,2168],"class_list":["post-6732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-psych","category-rawk","category-review","tag-sunrise-ocean-bender","tag-the-movements","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-57-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6732\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}