True genius, especially in art, is often not recognized when it first emerges. Van Gogh barely made a penny and garnered little acclaim for paintings that people now travel the world to see. Art may be subjective, but an entirely new world of debate arises when something comes along for which there are very few, if any, analogues. With this in mind, let us turn to Moiii, and their self-titled debut. It’s the fusion of musical minds hardcore and rock-centric—Scott Shellhamer (American Heritage, Ghosts and Vodka)—and electronica, pop, and folk-inclined—Jason Butler1 (Thee Conductor)—plus an additional healthy helping of aggressive noise rock—Thor Harris (Swans) performs percussion. On paper, there’s nothing spectacularly strange about combining the above genres; plenty of electronic music is somewhat dissonant, noisy, and dense, whilst also being kind of danceable, and catchy. But whatever you’re imagining, it almost certainly doesn’t come close to Moiii.
Moiii is quite simply baffling. You don’t know whether to reserve judgment until you feel like you understand it—perhaps accepting you never will—or heap scorn over its fickle irreverence and jarring bizarreness. Each track feels like an experiment, almost a jam apart from the fact it’s been well-mixed and mastered. Common quirks shared between them—flickering, bassy static (“Turtle Legs,” “Scarab of Ra”), pervasive waves of noise (“Tangled Chords,” “Motion Picture”), and a penchant for dissonant combinations of all kinds of sound, as well as generally slow-to-medium tempos—help provide some coherence, but that’s where it ends. Don’t expect closure, catharsis, or completeness in these compositions. Moiii are intent on subverting your expectations in this respect—or at least, they seem to be—as they use individual pieces as microcosms for genre subversion, maintaining their states without evolution, abandoning them, or perhaps even following them through in an expected fashion, just as a little surprise.
As strange as it is, Moiii can be quite charming. I didn’t know I wanted to hear xylophonic chords being played alongside foghorns and sludgy riffs (“Tangled Chords”), but it was great. I also didn’t know how brilliant a groove could be achieved through intense, rhythmic breathing and steel drumming so sharp and tinny it sounds like it’s being played on a set of saucepans (“You Won’t Be Alive To Feel It”). Nor did I expect to be so viscerally affected by the humming, clicking, stalking, and whatever else is going on in “Motion Picture.” Though generally averse to utilizing the pretty side of electronica, in favor of that which makes you feel slightly ill in its constantly crescendoing, dissonant lurchiness (“Turtle Legs,” “Motion Picture”), Moiii make another play out of left field with the suddenly pleasant “Shhhhhhhhhhhhh”2 which begins in something akin to synthy shoegaze, played drunk, and eventually transforms into more-or-less straightforward sludge. Moiii create some surprisingly cool sequences with interspersions of bass feedback, guitar, and bubbly, fluttering synths (“Turtle Legs,” “Scarab of Ra”), and injections of wonky rhythm (“Tangled Chords,” “You Won’t Be Alive To Feel It”). And with a runtime that barely scrapes past half an hour, the record works a fun little mini-trip, the perfect length of time needed to indulge your weird side before returning to back-to-back replays of Ulcerate (or whatever else you people are listening to).
And yet, Moiii leaves me very conflicted. While there’s plenty to enjoy, at least in snippets, it’s hard not to see the offerings as unfinished drafts, as though each was a idea sketched out but never filled in. With the exception of “You Wont Be Alive To Feel It,” songs barely maintain enough momentum, enough dynamism to keep you truly invested, which is a shame considering the obvious talent and genuinely interesting fusions on display. “Motion Picture” has bags of potential hidden in its near-cinematic crescendoes of synth and spine-tingling ascending plucks, but Moiii refuse to develop it, and its eight-and-a-half-minutes begin to drag. Overall, the character of the album leaves it in the awkward position of being too odd and too jarring to comfortably act as background music, but not compelling enough to adequately occupy your attention all the way through.
But is Moiii perhaps a genius I fail to recognize? While it’s impossible to say, my gut tells me no. It’s clever when it needs to be, but possibly too clever for its own good, sacrificing substance for an over-commitment to kooky style. If Moiii make more music in future, it’ll be worth checking out, but for now, judge for yourself how far your curiosity can take your taste. You may even find you love it.
Rating: Mixed
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Someoddpilot Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 2nd, 2024
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