The Movielife - Cities in search of a heart

Warner
VÖ: 22.09.2017
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Back to school

Wenn sich eine Band nach 14 Jahren Pause offiziell zurückmeldet, empfinden es die meisten Rezensions-Connoisseure als überdrüssig, wenn der Text damit beginnt, was in der Zwischenzeit alles passiert ist. Oder was in der langen Phase alles machbar gewesen wäre. Noch ausgenudelter dürfte es jedoch sein, diese mögliche Thematisierung zu thematisieren. Getoppt wird das Ganze lediglich von... Lassen wir das. Fest steht: Das dritte und vorerst letzte Studiowerk "Forty hour train back to Penn" von The Movielife stammt aus dem Jahr 2003. Nach einigen Gelegenheitsauftritten folgte Ende 2014 die temporär halbgare Gewissheit: The boys are back in town. Und mit ihnen nun schlussendlich in Form von "Cities in search of a heart" ein Album, das durchweg gemischte Gefühle hinterlässt.

Zunächst jedoch beginnt das Comeback-Album immerhin furios, stürmisch, leidenschaftlich und über alle Zweifel erhaben: "Ski mask" reißt die Tür der Pop-Punk-Klasse 6a auf, stürmt so wild wie gekonnt herein und setzt sich bereits nach ein paar Sekunden mit ein paar Ellenbogenhieben gegen den Klassenprimus durch. "Mercy is asleep at the wheel" stellt wiederum die etwas ruhigere, dafür weitaus melodischere und mindestens ebenso gefühlvolle Antrittsrede als Klassensprecher dar. Nun wird selbst denjenigen, die bisher noch nichts von dem vermeintlichen Neuankömmling gehört haben, deutlich, für was die Band aus dem kalifornischen Long Island steht: Emotionalität und Eindringlichkeit.

Doch allein mit "Cities in search of a heart" hätten The Movielife den Status, den sie bei der Generation "Ich kannte Emo schon, da gab's den Begriff noch nicht einmal" auch heute noch genießen, niemals erreichen können. Die Vorgängeralben, die den Quasi-Legendenstatus zementierten, waren in Gänze weitaus ungestümer, roher und ungeschliffener und ließen sich damit eher in die verfeindete, weil uncoolere Emo-Punk-Parallelklasse einordnen. Doch ebenjene geerdeten Attribute lässt das vierte Album im weiteren Verlauf vermissen. Es dümpelt oftmals vor sich hin, trauert dem nötigen Biss hinterher und ist auch schon wieder vorbei, bevor es so richtig angefangen hat – auch wenn dieses Jammern ein solches auf einem zumindest halbhohen Niveau darstellt. Wenn da nicht "Pour two glasses" und insbesondere auch "Hearts" am Ende lauern würden und das Wort "B A L L A D E" in riesigen Lettern an die Tafel kritzeln: Nun ist der Tiefpunkt leider endgültig erreicht.

"This is not a comeback record – this is something truly special" soll Sänger Vinnie Caruana vorab versprochen haben. Dieser hat möglicherweise nach dem Ableben von The Movielife sowohl solo als auch mit I Am The Avalanche zu viele schonungslose Emotionen freigelassen, die "Cities in search of a heart" womöglich aus dem Durchschnittsbrei retten würden. Auch die ungewohnte Hochglanz-Produktion trägt nicht gerade dazu bei, die alten Heldentaten von The Movielife wieder aufblitzen zu lassen. Deswegen müssen die ehemaligen Vorzeigeschüler leider Gottes zum Nachsitzen verdonnert werden, um die eigentlich vorhandenen, anscheinend aber temporär verloren gegangenen Fähigkeiten wieder hervorzukitzeln.

(Christian Laude)

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Highlights & Tracklist

Highlights

  • Ski mask
  • Mercy is asleep at the wheel

Tracklist

  1. Ski mask
  2. Mercy is asleep at the wheel
  3. Ghosts in the photographs
  4. Sister Saint Monica
  5. Pour two glasses
  6. Lake Superior
  7. Laugh ourselves to death
  8. Blood moon
  9. You're the cure
  10. Hearts
Gesamtspielzeit: 26:49 min

Im Forum kommentieren

solea

2020-06-08 11:48:44

Ski mask ist wirklich Klasse

Armin

2017-09-20 21:16:13- Newsbeitrag

Frisch rezensiert.

Meinungen?

Armin

2017-08-15 17:09:55- Newsbeitrag

THE MOVIELIFE - Neue Single"Ghosts In The Photograph“

Die Alternative/PopPunk Band THE MOVIELIFE präsentiert mit "Ghosts In The Photograph“ Ihre brandneue Single:

Das erstmals auf Rise Records erscheinende Album "Cities in Search of a Heart ist für den 22.09.17 angekündigt.

"Brandon (Reilly) and I have poured every ounce of ourselves into this record." says Vinnie Caruana, the band's singer. "It's not easy visualizing what a Movielife record would sound like in 2017. We wrote and wrote and wrote, and got to an amazing place. This is not a comeback record; this is something truly special. This album is a project we are both immensely proud of and can't wait to share it with the world. Full steam ahead."

"Cities In Search Of A Heart" - Tracklist:
01. Ski Mask
02. Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel
03. Ghosts In The Photographs
04. Sister Saint Monica
05. Pour Two Glasses
06. Lake Superior
07. Laugh Ourselves To Death
08. Blood Moon
09. Youre The Cure
10. Hearts

https://www.facebook.com/themovielifeofficial
https://www.twitter.com/themovielifenyc
http://www.instagram.com/TheMovielife.NYC
http://www.RiseRecords.com

Armin

2017-06-27 13:01:34- Newsbeitrag

THE MOVIELIFE - "Cities In Search Of A Heart": Neues Album nach 14 Jahren

"Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel": 1. Single



Das New Yorker Dreiergespann THE MOVIELIFE kündigt mit "Cities In Search Of A Heart" nach 14 Jahren ein neues Album auf Rise Records an! Passend dazu gibt es mit "Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel" die erste Single zu hören:



"It's really about how we're living in strange days,” äußert sich Frontmann Vinnie Caruana zum neuen Song. “Compassion, mercy, and righteousness are desperately needed in order to wash away the darkness that’s tearing us apart. Mercy done lost her mind and is driving us straight into the sun. All we can do is hold on tight and fight for love and the human spirit.”

"Cities In Search Of A Heart" - Tracklist:
01. Ski Mask
02. Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel
03. Ghosts In The Photographs
04. Sister Saint Monica
05. Pour Two Glasses
06. Lake Superior
07. Laugh Ourselves To Death
08. Blood Moon
09. You’re The Cure
10. Hearts

Weitere Informationen in der offiziellen Pressemitteilung:

THE MOVIELIFE RELEASE FIRST SINGLE OFF ‘CITIES IN SEARCH OF A HEART’ - THE BAND’S FIRST ALBUM IN 14 YEARS

“MERCY IS ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL” NOW STREAMING ONLINE
VIA ROCK SOUND


CITIES IN SEARCH OF A HEART IN STORES AND ONLINE VIA RISE RECORDS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 WITH PRE-ORDER AVAILABLE NOW


After much anticipation, celebrated New York-based band The Movielife have released “Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel,” the first single off Cities In Search Of A Heart. This album—their first offering since 2003’s seminal Forty Hour Train Back To Penn—marks The Movielife’s triumphant return to form and is set to be released on Friday, September 22 by Rise Records. Cities In Search Of A Heart is available now for pre-order HERE.

“Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel,” the album’s hard-charging, thought-provoking centerpiece, can be streamed online now via ROCK SOUND

"It's really about how we're living in strange days,” frontman Vinnie Caruana says of the song. “Compassion, mercy, and righteousness are desperately needed in order to wash away the darkness that’s tearing us apart. Mercy done lost her mind and is driving us straight into the sun. All we can do is hold on tight and fight for love and the human spirit.”

Don’t call Cities In Search Of A Heart a comeback album because reunions rarely sound as inspired as this. This is a record that shows how much the group’s songwriters—vocalist Caruana and guitarist Brandon Reilly—have grown since 2003’s Forty Hour Train Back To Penn, and it offers up their most inspired and energized songwriting to date. Whether you’ve loved The Movielife since they were a scrappy Long Island hardcore band in the early 2000s or you’re a recent initiate, it’s difficult not to get caught up in the kinetic energy and lyrical honesty that permeates every note of Cities In Search Of A Heart.

The story of this record officially began two years ago when, after spending a decade on their own projects—Caruana’s I Am The Avalanche and Reilly’s Nightmare Of You—the duo started playing shows together as The Movielife again. “The two of us became close friends again and we both felt like we had learned so much about songwriting since the early 2000s that we should do another record together,” Caruana recalls, speaking from his home in Brooklyn. “We had a great reaction to our reunion shows in 2014 but felt that instead of keeping it on a purely nostalgic level we wanted to write a record together that people could get into today.” Not wanting to taint the band’s legacy or recycle the past, the duo were faced with the monumental task of figuring out exactly who The Movielife are now, which was no easy task.

Caruana and Reilly initially struggled with writing the record until last year when they had the realization that they simply needed to make a new album that captured the punk spark that had been so prevalent in all of their previous releases. “I knew the tempos had to be up and we had to be energetic because that’s what our shows are like and that element is so important to who we are as a band,” Caruana explains. “I have to admit that the task of making this record seemed slightly impossible in the beginning but I’m so happy that we pushed ourselves so hard because we ended up making a Movielife record that we’re freaking out about and can’t wait to share with the world,” he adds.

Caruana has good reason to be excited. From the driving, melodic rocker “Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel” to the fuzzed-out pop perfection of “Laugh Ourselves To Death” and the orchestrally-tinged acoustic ballad “Pour Two Glasses,” the album shows that The Movielife have crafted a collection of songs that’s as captivating as it is catchy. Lyrically, the album sees Caruana once again writing from the heart, about where he is in his life today and about the current state of the world. “The dichotomy of The Movielife has always been upbeat music combined with sometimes unsettling lyrics and on this record that dark cloud is being addressed throughout the record in different ways,” Caruana says of the album. While lines like “We’re all gonna die, exploding in a ball of fire” from “Laugh Ourselves To Death” may sound nihilistic, it’s more of a reaction to the uncertainty that plagues the world today as interpreted through the band’s unique approach to songwriting. On the flip side, Cities In Search Of A Heart features some of the band’s most hopeful songs to date, keeping the album’s overall sound feel far more inspiring than defeatist.

But ultimately Cities In Search Of A Heart is meant to be listened to, not analyzed, so turn it up because rebirths usually aren’t this catchy. “Calling on the hearts, wear it on the sleeve for all to see,” Caruana sings during the album’s infectious closer “Hearts” and with these words it’s clear that he’s singing as much for himself as he is for the band’s listeners who may not have found their own voices quite yet. This album speaks to those very simple yet relatable attributes of what it means to be human during an unprecedented time in human history, so take it all in and hold on tight.

The Movielife will be on tour supporting Cities In Search Of A Heart during 2017 and well through 2018. Dates and details on all upcoming performances to be announced soon.

Cities In Search Of A Heart track listing:
01. Ski Mask
02. Mercy Is Asleep At The Wheel
03. Ghosts In The Photographs
04. Sister Saint Monica
05. Pour Two Glasses
06. Lake Superior
07. Laugh Ourselves To Death
08. Blood Moon
09. You’re The Cure
10. Hearts

https://www.facebook.com/themovielifeofficial
https://www.twitter.com/themovielifenyc
http://www.instagram.com/TheMovielife.NYC
http://www.RiseRecords.com

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