MOVEMENTS Announce New Album 'Happier Now'

Southern California's post-hardcore stalwarts MOVEMENTS will release their fourth full-length album, "Happier Now", on September 4 via Fearless Records.

Today, the band fires off not one but two new tracks with "Dissolve Me" and "Back In My Ways".

MOVEMENTS have earned their reputation in the post-hardcore scene with mathy, discordant riffs wrapped in forward-thinking melodies. The band further perfects the formula that has served it so well with "Dissolve Me", which features tense and angular riffs wrapped in shimmering, layered vocal harmonies. It's a hardcore bop that will have the kids in the pit jumping up and down and dancing like no one is watching.

"'Dissolve Me', the first track we wrote for this record, set a precedent for our writing process," explains MOVEMENTS vocalist Patrick Miranda. "Nailing the lead single for an album cycle on the first try is a significant accomplishment. It felt like the perfect culmination of energy, emotion, and growth for us sonically. Like much of the record, this song is introspective, and It's a sort of confession about my own social behaviors and the challenges I face in navigating even the smallest or most 'normal' everyday interactions. Those feelings tend to accumulate and worsen over time, to the point where they can become debilitating. Sometimes it feels like the only remedy would be to slam my head into a wall." But rather, the bandmembers channel those frustrations into their music.

MOVEMENTS have also served up a moody and melancholic volley with "Back In My Ways". It's a master class in slow burn sonic storytelling. The tinny riffs and evenly delivered vocals steadily escalate through to the final third of the song. That's when the track absolutely erupts in a torrent of riffs and a rush of emotive vocals. "Back In My Ways" hits you in all of the post-hardcore feels. Ultimately, "Back In My Ways" was a grower for the band, and one that harks back to the band's earlier sounds.

"'Back In My Ways' was a track that I kinda hated at first," offers Miranda. "I think there was part of me that was hesitant to want to slip back into the 'sadder' side of our music. Sometimes the early versions of the songs we write don't hit right away, but over time it's become one of my favorite tracks on the record. This song is a slow burn in more ways than one, and it's really special."

"Happier Now" track listing:

01. Pulse
02. Dissolve Me
03. Everything Is Fine
04. Happier Now
05. Flowerbed
06. Back In My Ways
07. Spellbound
08. Ill At Ease
09. Live By The Sword
10. Everyone I've Ever Been
11. Fragile Hands
12. Separate

"Happier Now" was once again helmed by Grammy-winning producer Will Yip (TURNSTILE, TITLE FIGHT, CIRCA SURVIVE). The result is an album that's as expansive as it is emotional and takes MOVEMENTS' signature sound to a heightened level that further establishes the band as scene statesmen.

"I think at first we weren't really sure what the record was going to be," Miranda admits. "We all had a general idea: We wanted it to bring in the early elements of our sound and blend it with the newer material like [2023's] 'Ruckus!' and mesh both of those sounds." Two of the songs that came from that initial session were the album's first two singles: the instantly infectious anthem "Dissolve Me" and moody meditation "Back In My Ways", which collectively acted as sonic north stars to guide the band through the recording process.

In many ways, "Happier Now" is a full circle moment for MOVEMENTS, who are once again performing on the Warped Tour this summer and slowly becoming veterans of the community that inspired them growing up. The struggle never sounded so sweet.

Photo credit: Adam Alonzo