Moving Mountains – Pneuma

Most people compare Moving Mountains to Explosions In The Sky. Having never heard the latter, it’s hard to confirm or deny that comparison. Instead I’ll attempt to paint an elaborate picture for you in which I hope to be able to describe the sound of Pneuma:

Imagine, if you will, an unusual amalgamation of Attack In Black and dredg. On an weekend adventure in the mountain getaway, the two bands produced an illegitimate offspring. That offspring took elements from both of his “parents” styles and worked them together all the while adding in some slightly newer elements into the mix. He’s a confident child, ambitious and voluptuous; exploring the vast sound scape on its own terms. Every once in a while though, he gets bored. Sometimes he’ll cure that boredom simply by pulling out an acoustic guitar while other times he needs something more and so he has a little fling withPolar Bear Club. That – in a horribly convoluted way – is Moving Mountains‘ Pneuma.

Pneuma starts with an atmospheric opening track, Aphelion. The song immediately paints an ample image of what to come: a vast, atmospheric landscape tattered with post-modern prog-indie sound bytes. Throw in some almost celestial like sounds and the album starts soaring. Then comes the roaring vocals. Raw and passionate, the rough vocals cut through the music like a knife and instantly leave the dredg feel behind for that Polar Bear Club sound I talked about earlier. Almost instantly another set of vocals come layered overtop of the first set, completely contradicting the intensity with a more melodic style delivered through soaring vocals. The two vocalists sing overtop of one another for the remainder of the song before it melts into Cover The Roots/ Lower The Stems. The song builds on everything the introduction had but delivers it with more power and intensity than what you had before. It’s an artsy sound without being pretentious or obnoxious. It just hits you and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The album is full of little moments like that. Little moments that just hit you and leave you in awe. Like Fourth for example. It is easily one of the best introductions to a song that I’ve ever heard that, oddly enough, doesn’t actually introduce a song. What it does lead into though is 8105 – the album’s opus. At over eight and a half minutes long, the song may be considered a tad too long for some (and there are some listens where I wish they had got rid of the final minute of the track) but the song successfully encapsulate everything that makes this album so unique. It’s a song that builds in intensity only to pull back and tear it all away and build it back up again. Starting sparsely, the song accumulates together as the add new portions of the song with each passing moment. As the trombone enters overtop of the softly sung vocals you image Attack In Black then it explodes in volume and excitement as a set of female vocals come in to sing along with Greg Dunn. Suddenly it cuts out. It’s lowered to a simple drum beat and repeated riff that slowly builds up once again successfully compacting the immense sound and diversity of the band into one song.

In fact the only element of Pneuma that 8105 doesn’t cover is the acoustic curve ball found within Sol Solis. Paired with a vibraphone, Sol Solis is a much rawer tracks whose only connection to the other songs is the lyrical theme and closing trombone moments. Still, it works and becomes one of the highlights of the album every listen..

This album is not for everyone though. In fact, I know that there will be some days when I’ll put it on and instinctively yawn and say “what was I thinking?” But at the right time and for the right person, Moving Mountains‘ debut album, Pneuma, will be perfect. It is airy, celestial, progressive and experimental. It soars through the speakers and rattles through the ear canals to breach the heart and allow the listener to escape into an emotional world of love between the sun and the earth. What else could you ask for?