Moving Mountains used to be gritty. There was a backbone and high level of resolve in their music, tucked safely behind their unique blend of post-rock, post-hardcore, and indie rock. Songs could get soft and slow and occasionally lose focus, but there was always an outstanding crescendo just waiting to appear out of the woodwork and save whatever song or album in which it was contained. Moving Mountains are no longer that band, as their third full length self titled album is essentially the auditory equivalent of downing half a bottle of Nyquil, which is not necessarily a bad thing because hey, sometimes naps are nice.
Moving Mountains' first two releases
Pneuma and
Foreword cleverly walked the line between post-rock, ambient atmosphere, tenacious post-hardcore, and indie rock. Most of the post-rock and ambient facets were swiftly abandoned on the group's sophomore release Waves, which contained some great tracks, but was overall lacking compared to the band's previous body of work. Moving Mountains' newest release suffers from the same problems, but is instead exclusively rooted in acoustic based soft rock while abandoning all progress made on Waves. The first three songs "Swing Set," "Burn Pile," and "Hands" showcase Moving Mountains' newer slowed down, relaxing sound well, but this approach quickly becomes old once the 6th and 7th tracks rear their ugly heads. The last two tracks "Chords" and "Apsides" are nice, but I'm usually passed out by the time they come around.
Pneuma was the band's only great full length album and I've started to believe that it was a fluke and that the band should stick to taking the three or four great songs their capable of making and release them as an EP. Ultimately just like Nyquil,
Moving Mountains is best taken in small doses, because if you drink the whole bottle you're going to be out for days.
