Moving Units – ‘Dangerous Dreams’ (Palm Pictures) Released 07/02/05

 

 

There are a couple of insipid track-fillers with about as much bite as porridge made with water – 'Bricks & Mortar' is simply inane, with awful lyrics…"You are my captor, my bayonet – it is my duty to fall on it…" (it doesn’t even bloody rhyme!) and a rubbish chorus of, you guessed it…"Bricks! Mortar! Bricks! Mortar!" (Shit! Crap! would have been more ccurate). 'Killer / Lover' is similarly uninspired, but this is where the insults end, because the rest is rather superb.

 

At first listen, Moving Units may appear one-dimensional, a melodic housey beat accompanied by softly frigid vocals – but listen further and you’ll realise that they’re a hell of a lot more diverse than that. Like a busy chocolate bar, say a Boost, with its jumble of caramel, nougat stuff, shortbread pieces and smooth chocolate coating – Moving Units has a mixture of sounds and tempos and most surprisingly of all, some genuinely heartfelt lyrics. 80s influences merge with 90s Brit-pop with hints of Blur and Underworld – whilst at the same time, managing to sound bang up to date, with a Killers’ aloofness to compliment their American heritage. Guitars alternate from punkish to warped, from sweeping to bluesy and we are unexpectedly ditched from upbeat bass-lines and light bulb flashes of jaunty melody to drizzly songs of grey, come-down intensity.

 

'Between Us And Them' is a surprising little hotchpotch of engaging guitar riffs, catchy backing "ooo’s" and incredibly hurt lyrics. "It’s natural to feel unfaithful when you’re going to be anyway / I’ll make it easy for you / what a disaster," slur singers Blake Miller and Chris Hatwell in tangible pain. 'Scars' as the name suggests, is similarly dejected, starting with a Kasabian-like warehouse vastness Mickey Petralia takes the drums down a notch to plunge us into a world-weary and pessimistic reverie. Despite driving, punkish drumming ''Birds Of Prey' shares a comparable desolation, while 'Anyone' with it’s faintly trance backing track is equally muted and distanced.

 

But it’s not all doom and gloom! 'Emancipation' with its breathy "Yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah" backing interjections, smooth drumming and tumbling exotic guitar riffs, it's immensely danceable - with Miller/Hatwell sounding uncannily (and perhaps not entirely trendily) … like Alison Moyet. Try not to get too excited when you first hear 'Available' – the drumming is the spitting double of the stellar Duran Duran classic ‘Wild Boys’ – but unfortunately it’s not a cover. Obviously, 'Available' could never live up to ‘Wild Boys’ – but that’s not to say that it’s not bloody good. From fond remembrances of the gargoyle-esque Simon le Bon, we are suddenly thrown into a Rapture-like indie anthem, complete with reverberating scorpion’s tail slapping guitar.

 

Look past the singularly unattractive album art-work and the similarly off-putting "infectious dance-punk" PR tag and you may well rather like this album. Indie-disco beats with emotion – a subtle but refreshing combination…like Boost Guarana.