“…one highly pleasing piece of melodic rock”
When Hollow Ship were here in November of last year there’s was a convoluted story actually about a ‘Hollow boat’ (‘Utsuro-bune’) in Japanese folklore; one which appeared off a village in the early 19th century in Japan but the sole female occupant couldn’t explain in Japanese to the local fisherman who she was or why she was there.
So they simply pushed her out to sea again. As you do.
I expected it to be psychy and proggy, the sort of thing which goes hand in hand with a mysterious tale, and in the event it turned out to be more of the latter. There were bits of King Crimson, Yes and the Floyd in there, to my ear at least.
I also noted that whenever there is an instrumental piece which is based on a story like this my first concern is to figure out if the music actually ‘tells the story’ to me. Hollow Ship did and it didn’t but I won’t go into detail here, just read the review!
So what of ‘Music in Motion’ which sounds like it could be a 1960s BBC TV show, a predecessor of Top of the Pops? It is the second track on the forthcoming EP, which will land on 31st May, via Swedish indie label PNKSLM Recordings, directly after ‘Utsuro-bune’.
I’m inclined to think there must be a story in it again, perhaps one as perplexing as its predecessor, but there is no explanation of it online.
All I can tell you is that the tracks on the EP were recorded live in just one session last year, using an eight track tape machine in order to keep it raw and simple with everyone playing together in the same room at the same time. Their aim was “to find pure energy, the feeling of a band going to the studio for the first time. Not over-thinking it.”
Well two can play at that game and I don’t have to over-think to realise ‘Music in Motion’ takes me right back to the heady days of Focus c.1971 and ‘Moving Waves’. I’ve heard few bands since who could conjure up the same vibe, both laid back and dynamic at the same time. This is one of them.
There could perhaps be a little more syncopation in it, as prog demands; the riff is standardised throughout and challenged only by the bass line but that’s a trifling complaint when weighed against the whole, which is one highly pleasing piece of melodic rock.
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