First – and, if we’re being fair, only – surprise on this, the long overdue debut from LA’s Moving Units, is how very clean it is, meticulous, clinical. It’s the kind of thing that Patrick Bateman of American Psycho might shave to before a dinner date/twilight killing spree. Dangerous dreams indeed. Only when they first hit these shores with their EP and live dates almost 2 years ago they seemed soiled and intent, a lot more dangerous to know, loitering somewhere between the twin reference points of Gang of Four and Wire, certainly not afraid of cutting loose.
Back then they were tagging onto interest in the likes of Hot Hot Heat, Liars, Radio 4 and The Rapture, and while hunger for that era has barely subsided with the likes of Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand picking up the baton, it does feel that they should have still been on the first boat. You could say that their compadres have all moved on and left them behind – none more so than Liars of course – but they have at least kept right up with Radio 4, almost like they were stalking them in fact. Call the Police! No, not Sting’s lot. Though truthfully, they’re not a million miles away. If they’d come a step closer though they probably would have been laminated.
If they didn’t have a sackload of dynamic songs to back up this streamlined electronic makeover, they would have just been trampled aside in the stampede for copies of ‘Silent Alarm’. But turns out they do. Loads of ‘em, luckily. ‘Between Us & Them’ is a hybrid of ‘Echo Beach’ and ‘How Soon Is Now’, two of the best pop songs ever recorded. That doesn’t make it the third by association, but it does assure us a brilliant gold-topped tune. ‘Birds Of Prey’ is like Television on high-speed dubbing, ‘Submission’ has a real Bootsy Collins funk groove, ‘Scars’ is about as current as it gets with a hint of late 80s Jane’s Addiction, and ‘Anyone’ takes in New Order and Kraftwerk. There is bass guitar to robotic dance to at every juncture and a damn solid mix of influences. It is a very cold and detached album though, and if anything that could be its downfall.