Movements: Album Review

After the initial release of their debut album ‘Feel Something’ in 2017, Movements began to make a name for themselves in the alternative, emo, and indie rock scene. Three years later, following the success of ‘Feel Something’, the four-piece band have released their sophomore album, ‘No Good Left To Give’, and it exceeds every expectation that fans may have had leading up to its release. Movements have outdone themselves with this record, breaking out of genre boundaries, exploring new sounds and pairing those sounds with impassioned vocals that explore topics, like struggling with mental health, in new depths.

The record kicks off with ‘In My Blood’, which immediately sets a gloomy and melancholic tone to the album. The vocals, by lead singer Patrick Miranda, set a haunting tone and provide an insight into what the listener is in for, for the rest of the album. It is exciting how this song builds and leads to the vocalist screaming the lyrics as if to get someone to listen to him. The lyrics ‘I feel so fucked / At least I’m feeling’ could be a possible reference to their song ‘Fever Dream’ off their debut album ‘Cause I wanna feel something / Stuck in a fever dream’. 

This suggests that the vocalist has developed from feeling emotionally numb to feeling something, even if it hurts, which sets up the tone for the rest of the album and helps to tell the story.

The first single to be released off this record, ‘Don’t Give Up Your Ghost’, gave fans an insight into what Movements’ new album was going to sound like. The song has a very stripped back feel to it, with minimal guitars and a strict focus on the drums and heartfelt vocals. This sets the listeners focus directly onto the difficult topics being covered in the lyrics. Miranda tells the story of an attempted suicide and letting someone know that he understands what they’re going through but wants to show them that there are things worth living for; ‘Ready to fold the hand you’ve been dealt / But there’s beauty I believe you can find.’ The music video, which was released alongside the song, helps to elevate the meaning further, showing the lengths the band are willing to go to be there for those who 

need them.

‘Seneca’ and ‘Skin to Skin’ discuss the topic of failed and troubled relationships and stray far from the path of any music the band has made in the past. The album is concluded with the bitter-sweet song ‘Love Took the Last of It’. The lyrics describe how Miranda wishes to take the blame for the failed relationship he wished would have worked out; ‘And it was never really right, your hand in mine / But at the time it’s what I needed for a stable mind.’ 

Lyrically, this is one of Movements’ best songs as it describes the depth of the relationship he was in and how he blamed himself for what happened; ‘I’d break my fingers just to point them all at me / It’s my fault.’

‘No Good Left To Give’ is an album like no other. The vocals on this album literally scream vulnerability and depth which shows fans a whole new side of Movements. Although this album does stray further from their earlier music, such as their EP ‘Outgrown Things’ which focuses more on the post-hardcore genre with raw screams, this is definitely not to their detriment. For me, this album gives a lot of opportunity for Movements to gain a larger following but is also something their longer-term fans can enjoy and appreciate, well worth having a listen to.

- Zoe Wheeler

Instagram: @zoe.wheeler_ / @zoewheelermedia