ALBUM REVIEW: Moving Mountains – New Light EP

New York band, Moving Mountains, move away from their traditional pop punk vibe to record a more acoustic EP – New Light. All four tracks are acoustic covers of songs from their previous albums – Waves and Pneuma – and have the band go down a completely different path.

The EP kicks off with Alleviate which, originally, was a very heavy track. The cover has the band sounding amazing, with vocalist, Gregory Dunn’s vocals strong. The song is much slower but is sung well, and really stands out as a more acoustic song. Drummer, Nicholas Pizzolato, in particular does a great job on the song, by not being to heavy or soft, but its Dunn’s vocals that really shine, making it a clear highlight of the album.

Although Ode We Will Bury Ourselves is a much shortened version of the original, it surpasses it. Not overly heavy in the first place, the re-work doesn’t stand out too much, but does sound better with a softer background, even if it cut a lot of the emotion that fans loved as the finale to the Pneuma album.

Again, Where Two Bodies Lie, originally, was a much heavier song. The cover is one of the more stripped down versions on New Light, and will be a favourite for fans. Dunn’s vocals are at their peak and sound great with the softer background music. The acoustic sound works well, but it also sounds similar to the two previous tracks. This is an issue throughout – despite sounding amazing, the tracks on the EP all sound so similar to each other, whereas the originals don’t.

8105 ends the album with redemption though. It’s a clear highlight of the album and starts with a 2 minute long instrumental before Dunn’s vocals come in – sounding hauntingly beautiful. At over 8 minutes long (the original and the cover), it end the EP on a high with some brilliant soft acoustics from the guitar and some stunning vocals. The acoustic opening sounds much better than that instrumental of the original and the music blends together acoustically, with Dunn’s voice on top form.

New Light is an interesting concept from an otherwise heavy band. It’s clear that Moving Mountains are trying to movie away from their pop punk style and into something calmer and slower, which they have done well. The four songs sound good acoustically, and it’ll be interesting to see where the band goes next.