{"id":17446,"date":"2014-11-03T13:13:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T13:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-tiny-moving-parts-pleasant-living\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:06:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:06:36","slug":"album-review-tiny-moving-parts-pleasant-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-tiny-moving-parts-pleasant-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Tiny Moving Parts – Pleasant Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Many people would have been more than happy if \u2018Pleasant Living\u2019<\/em> was simply a rehash of Tiny Moving Parts<\/strong>\u2019 2013 breakout \u2018This Couch is Long & Full of Friendship\u2019<\/em>. I wasn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

While \u2018This Couch is Long\u2026\u2019 <\/em> was a promising debut, it was also frustratingly idiosyncratic, interspersed with audioclips of a sobbing man which I didn\u2019t much care for, and it felt like there was little difference between the songs. I enjoyed it, but there was little to mark them out as ones to watch. Fast forward to earlier this year and their split with Old Gray saw a huge improvement with them returning with a fuller, more dynamic sound \u2013 and a couple of really great songs (\u2018Swimming Lessons\u2019<\/em> in particular is stellar).<\/p>\n

Which brings us to \u2018Pleasant Living\u2019<\/em>. Freshly signed to Triple Crown Records<\/b>, it represents another huge step forward for the Minnesota family band and puts them firmly alongside Modern Baseball and The Hotelier as leading lights in the current US underground.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Indeed, fans of the aforementioned acts will find plenty to get excited about in Tiny Moving Parts<\/strong>, despite the differences in sound and delivery. Far more mathy than their counterparts, with almost semi-spoken vocals in places they\u2019re an interesting conundrum \u2013 but have smoothed out their rough edges with huge swathes of melody and some rather fantastic choruses. They\u2019re also wilfully playful. Opener \u2018Sundress\u2019<\/em> sounds nothing like anything found on \u2018This Couch is Long\u2026\u2019<\/em> and those expecting a re-run of their debut would be under no illusions that this was not the case after it finishes. Almost Braid-like (but if Hot Water Music were on backing vocals) it\u2019s a three-minute pop-punk blast that reigns in the noodle moments in favour of a massive chorus \u2013 and it is sublime. In fact, I had to check a couple of times that it was a Tiny Moving Parts<\/strong> song, such is the progression. Ones for pigeonholing, these boys are not\u2026 <\/p>\n

The progression continues \u2013 especially during a rather spectacular opening six songs. \u2018Always Focussed\u2019<\/em> shows they can still noodle with the best of them, but never stretches things too far, instead keeping with a strong melody and chorus, while \u2018Fourth of July\u2019<\/em> \u2013 one of the standouts \u2013 is a stop-start, quiet-loud epic and sees the re-introduction of a string section and female backing vocals \u2013 something dabbled with on \u2018This Couch Is Long\u2026\u2019 <\/em>. It\u2019s brilliantly effective and adds yet more depth to their growing sound. <\/p>\n

And further evidence can be seen in the breezy \u2018Whisky Waters\u2019<\/em>. The cynic in me could say it was written purely with commercial success in mind, but there\u2019s no getting away from the fact that the chorus is monolithic. It combines just enough of all of their different elements to create a quite brilliant, bouncy, pop-punk song. Like Modern Baseball\u2019s \u2018Your Graduation\u2019<\/i>, it\u2019s an easy-on-the-ear crowd pleaser and should kill live.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the second half of \u2018Pleasant Living\u2019<\/em> can\u2019t quite match the blistering opening, but there\u2019s still some gems buried in there. \u2018Boxcar\u2019<\/em> (no, not the Jawbreaker one \u2013 a clarification journalists must be sick of making\u2026) is an enjoyable blast, while \u2018Entrances and Exits\u2019<\/em>, despite being all-too-brief is a real understated beauty. That said, the album would be all the better if \u2018Spring Fever\u2019<\/em> was left confined to the practice room.<\/p>\n

Overall, though, this is clearly just the start for Tiny Moving Parts<\/strong>. With a UK tour a possibility in 2015, now is surely the time to get on board and enjoy some \u2018Pleasant Living\u2019<\/em>. <\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n

‘Pleasant Living’<\/em> by Tiny Moving Parts<\/strong> is out now on Triple Crown Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Tiny Moving Parts<\/strong> links:
\nFacebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|@BobNightMair<\/a>
\n)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people would have been more than happy if \u2018Pleasant Living\u2019 was simply a rehash of Tiny Moving Parts\u2019 2013 breakout \u2018This Couch is Long & Full of Friendship\u2019. I wasn\u2019t one of them. While \u2018This Couch is Long\u2026\u2019 was a promising debut, it was also frustratingly idiosyncratic, interspersed with audioclips of a sobbing man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,7889,15022,260,202],"class_list":["post-17446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-pleasant-living","tag-rob-mair","tag-tiny-moving-parts","tag-triple-crown-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: Tiny Moving Parts - Pleasant Living - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many people would have been more than happy if \u2018Pleasant Living\u2019 was simply a rehash of Tiny Moving Parts\u2019 2013 breakout \u2018This Couch is Long & Full of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Album Review: Tiny Moving Parts - 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