Stripped from their upcoming 11th album "Earthbound," due by August 29th on Dromedary Records, the new single is a soul-weary contemplation from a band that's glowed, soothed, and endured. Moviola has been crafting these intimate, unadorned indie rock songs for more than 30 years, and "Long Gone" sounds like a gentle and assured summation of everything they've learned. Rooted in Columbus, Ohio, the collective stitches together strands of alternative rock, dusty country, and indie Americana into something at once familiar and unmistakably its own.
The song plays like a conversation among old friends, the kind in which there aren't many words, but the ones that do appear carry immense meaning. You can hear the exhaustion in the harmonies, the intentionality in every chord, and the blending of five different songwriters into one lived-in voice. This song, like the rest of "Earthbound," was born out of scattered sessions in Columbus, Brooklyn, and Brattleboro, but there's nothing scattered about what came of it. Instead, it's the most focused work they've ever done, Moviola being the vehicle for their languid Smiths-meets-Red House Painters jangle shop. "Long Gone" is alternately lush and stripped down, gentle but grizzled, emotional but never overwrought. It contains the paradox of adulthood, worn down and sharper than ever.
There's something deeply human about this song. It doesn't chase trends or wallow in memories. It is self-assured in its scars, unafraid of silence, devout in its rhythm. It sounds like five bandmates who have come of age not only together but also through their music. Moviola allows the years to talk. In a tightly focused, slyly clear-eyed new novel, "Long Gone," they remind us that not all departures are abrupt. Sometimes, fade is a form of honesty. And in a world that values loudness, Moviola's quiet power move might also be their most radical one yet. With "Earthbound," Moviola is not only still here, but they're right where they should be. And if there's the flicker of a candle in the darkness, that's "Long Gone," which is the compass showing the way.
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