Spotlight, featuring Movements

Tea pairing: Elderberry blackberry with honey

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As much as I love the emo and post-hardcore classics, there is truly something to be said about the emo revival scene that has sprung up in recent years. I have brought attention to a few newer emo acts like The Hotelier, Joyce Manor, Modern Baseball, and Spanish Love Songs, but there are so many up-and-coming emo acts that deserve attention that for the next few posts I’m going to focus exclusively on these emo revivalists.

These next batch of posts will act as a sort of spotlight for each band where I go into their history, some of their albums, popularity, and songs that deserve attention. I want very much to share these bands with others and I think giving them some coverage will encourage people to give them a listen.

With that said, I present you Movements. Hailing from sunny California, Movements have blended elements of indie rock, post-hardcore, emo, and spoken word to form a mishmash of sounds that harken back to the stylings of American Football and Jimmy Eat World.

Movements find themselves amongst a slew of other bands that are reviving emo, but also reinventing it to better fit audiences of today. Frontman Patrick Miranda has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and has had struggles with anxiety and depression, which have found their way into the band’s music.

These struggles, which are very common in the youth of today, have gained the band a personal connection with their fans and have afforded them a comfortable spot in the burgeoning “fourth wave” emo scene.

The honesty and heart-on-their-sleeve nature of the quartet are captured perfectly on their 2017 debut album, Feel Something. Released to critical acclaim, Feel Something never falls short on lyrical punches and expert musicianship.

Whether it’s the melancholic “Daylily” that describes the mental and eating disorders Miranda’s girlfriend has dealt with, or the grunge-esque “Deep Red” where the struggles of dealing with depression take center stage, Movements never falter and press hard on relatable issues.

I came across Movements on TikTok of all places where one of the many music themed accounts I follow had the song “Daylily” playing in a video. This was maybe three weeks ago now, but I have since developed a love for the band and have thoroughly enjoyed each of their songs.

For me, what draws me to them is the newness of the group. Having only formed in 2015, Movements have already set themselves up for a prolific career within the emo scene as it again surges in popularity.

Listening predominantly to the classics can do one of two things to you; get you excited for new stuff, or make you an elitist. While I wouldn’t say I am, or ever was, an elitist, I can say that I was starting to become dismissive of the emo-revival scene in some ways.

I am lucky enough to know a handful of newer emo acts that usually keep me grounded, but it was Movements that pushed me to pay more attention to the smaller guys, the guys who are looking for a place in the music world.

So, if you are like me in some ways and feel yourself kind of getting snobby with music (in a non-professional way) then give a listen to Movements and I promise you’ll keep coming back for more from them, and the scene they are helping to put back on the map.