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Tiny Moving Parts

Tiny Moving Parts

Written by: PP on 04/01/2023 12:15:12

Tiny Moving Parts has been one of the most exciting emo/post-hardcore bands of the past few years, thanks to a string of brilliant releases that captured the imagination of the scene at large. First, "Celebrate" was the breakthrough for their mathy, explosive form of Midwestern emo back in 2016. Then they topped it with what is likely their career masterpiece "Swell" two years later. "breathe" (sic) followed another two years later as a solid continuation of both albums. Their eighth overall album (if you count their debut, which the band seems to have disowned) is simply self-titled, which makes sense because it replicates the exact formula that the band has been pursuing their entire career.

It's both a blessing and a curse. The swirling guitars are insanely technical, bridging the gap between math rock, post-hardcore, emo, and punk to an extent. The expression is full of quiet/loud dynamics where lulls explode into pure instrumental chaos, while vocalist Dylan Mattheisen still breaks into a scream at just the right moments. Stop/start passages dominate the soundscape, giving breathing room for their jangly, intricate guitars in songs like "Decibel" or "Downhill Spiral". Elsewhere, the band delves almost into pop punk/easycoreish material with sparkling, melodic choruses like that on "All My Guts". So in that sense, Tiny Moving Parts deliver exactly what their fanbase is expecting throughout the album.

The problem is that we have now heard this album four times in a row. That's fine in many instances (see e.g. Bad Religion), but it requires a level of passion and intensity to permeate through your speakers to remain fully convincing album after album. Here, Tiny Moving Parts sound so similar to their previous material, but the self-released record doesn't quite feel as passionate and as instantly ear-catching as "Swell" did, for instance.

You could be fooled by excellent cuts like "Decibel" and "North Shore". The band clearly still believes in their tangled-up, spaghetti-like riffs that knot up like old-school cabled headphones in your pocket. There's no denying that the instrumental noodling is an impressive listen time after time, especially if this is your first entry into Tiny Moving Parts. Dylan Mattheisen explodes into a scream with impeccable precision, but this is exactly where longer-term listeners start noticing that it's a little too perfect. It's a little too formulaic, which I realize is a paradoxical term to use for music as complicated instrumentally as Tiny Moving Parts' is. You're left wanting for the band to explore the outer edges of their currently well-contained intricacies to see where that might lead with talent like theirs.

That said, "Tiny Moving Parts" is still a solid album. The songs are memorable and impressive throughout. There's nothing inherently wrong with the record, as such. But it is what can definitively be called a safe record by all means. A solid, safe record.

Download: Tangled Up, Downhill Spiral, All My Guts, 12345, Decibel
For the fans of: Free Throw, Modern Baseball, Hot Mulligan
Listen: Facebook

Release date 26.08.2022
Self-Released