Moly - Post Crisis Reflection Agenda
[Self Released]

Industrial-Goth-Post Rock, whatever next? It’s hard to believe this is the same outfit whose music was once labeled as “spacious instrumental grandeur” by the UK music press, for “Post Crisis Reflection Agenda” sounds like a completely different band. In fairness, they have lost a couple of members and are left with the core foundation of main songwriters Mark and Neil Sharkey, which could explain the shift in direction.

It is clear this Guildford-based duo Moly have been enjoying Mogwai's “Happy Songs for Happy People” and “Rock Action” albums, as they too have invested in a vocoder, incorporating it into the majority of their compositions.

“Natural State of Nothing” arrives promisingly early on this record, persistently drilling the infectious vocoder hooks over staccato electro beats. Both “Bring Back Hanging” and “Hollow Souls” follow suit, albeit within a much slower tempo. Gliding across colliding industrial coated percussion, the dramatic sythns provide the backdrop for more alluring vocodered vocals. Think along the lines of Mogwai’s “Hunted by a Freak” only heavily polished with electronics.

“We Are Machines” starts interestingly with a skewed keyboard progression that recalls Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells”. But it soon loses focus and any momentum gained when the over-bearing vocoder sounds are introduced yet again. The band’s insistence on getting maximum mileage from this voice synth soon starts to detract from the actual compositions. “Dark Faith” is a curious number, the keyboards sounding like something from a Thou Shalt Suffer album or the soundtrack to a medieval battle. Again though, the treated vocals seem pointless, almost tagged on at the end, like an after-thought.

When they put the vocoder back in its box, tracks such as “The Silenced Majority" and “Fearful Imaginary State” don’t fare much better, coming across as totally out-dated and not unlike the sounds of former indie/dance darlings Jesus Jones. There are guitars in there somewhere, but they are that heavily treated that you end up straining to hear them.

Having said that, Moly deserves credit for not sticking to the tried and tested methods. It takes a brave band to eschew a quiet/loud formula that has served them so well in the past. Especially, when many other, more established, bands drink from this fountain time after time and seem exempt from criticism. If they wish to pursue this direction further then the electronic textures have to be adapted less awkwardly into their music. Or else, their next step should include pawning the vocoder and dusting down those guitars a little more.

Post Crisis Reflection Agenda Track Listing:

1. Hollow Sould
2. Bring Back Hanging
3. Natural State of Nothing
4. We Are Machines
5. SP404
6. Dark Faith
7. Song 3
8. The Silenced Majority
9. Tearful Imaginary Friend
10. Fearful Imaginary State