I have to say that I really enjoyed their first album and, even if the last track was a Monty Python-esque misfire in my opinion, I preferred it as a whole to the comparative release from Electric Six at the time. Full of catchy electronic riffs, tracks such as ‘Soldiers of Satan’, ‘Love Pigs’ and ‘Sex Wars’ were up there with my favourite E6 tunes but I am aware that it did split the opinion of that band’s fan base. I loved it as a fan of commercial electronic music but there were as many people who didn’t like it.
“Moving Through Security’ is perhaps a little more poppy than their debut and, though it doesn’t have as many stand out tracks as the first album, is a successful follow-up and more commercially friendly even if it takes a few listens to really stick there. Opener ‘Fixing Machines’ (I’m going on the order of the physical release, not the mis-labelled digital version) is a powerful opener that echoes the popular Calvin Harris-esque music that is filling the charts, but with perhaps a poppier vibe thanks to its backing chorus. With major echoes of ‘Escape from Ohio’ by the Six thanks to its similar opening line – one of a handful of times on this LP that echoes previous releases, inevitable with Spencer’s recent prolific nature that has seen albums with Electric Six, Evil Cowards and his own solo offering – it’s a fast paced catchy ditty that sets up the album and quickly sticks in your head and sets the poppier nature of the record.
‘Dirty Consuela’ is a darker track and, once you try and forget about the cleaner from Family Guy, and the mentions of ‘Amaretto Sours’ (nicely linking to this year’s corresponding Electric Six live release ‘Absolute Pleasure), hooks you in with its distirted chorus. Not my favourite track on the album due to the chorus being a little irritating with the way the title is sung, but the synth and keyboard line works well and the verses hold up the song and there is some welcome saxophone work.
‘System Overload’ kicks the pace up a little more with a shift in pace between the verses and chorus with a hook-filled chorus that mixes dance and pop nicely. The title track comes next and is one of the highlights of the album, with its fun storytelling and extended metaphors based around the tale. The breaks that scatter through the song including in the chorus really boost the song and, though it takes a few listens, will grab you, thanks to the hooks that permeate through the album.
Title track ‘Moving Through Security’ is the first major highlight of the album and the story-telling side really stands out, and the regular breaks and drop-out create the appeal, especially in the title of the record, and symbolises the poppy nature of the piece. Throw in a great bit of saxophone work and it is a thumbs up from me.
‘Bedford Avenue Wine Distributors’ is the curve ball of the album with only six words in the whole song, sounding like the musical equivalent of Dr. Seuss’ ‘Green Eggs and Ham’. It’s lyrics are, obviously, basic, but they do carry the song with its matching heavy bassy backing. Fans of Daft Punk’s later work will enjoy this but it is an acquired taste.
‘Jerkin’ Each Other Around’, my favourite song on the album, comes in at number six, opening with a poppy female-sung intro that leads into a fun falsetto song and a standardly sung pop tune, that in turn leads to a singable chorus. It’s a song made up of many elements but elements that work well together and is the poppiest number on the record.
‘Optical Day’ is a weaker track on the album with a one-minute long electronic opening. It still boasts some interesting lyrics and the usual multi-layered backings but compared with some of the bigger tracks it’s not quite as enjoyable. The female-led chorus has echoes, along with the title, of Weird Al’s ‘Weasel Stomping Day’ – although that might just be me. It’s still an enjoyable electronic track but not the strongest.
Fan-favourite ‘Dormitory Girls’ comes next. A slower track, with a bigger focus on the story, it drives along nicely with a catchy chorus and a cheeky post-chorus and continues the poppy feel. My second favourite track comes next, in the form of ‘Rich Kids’, with its immediate, autotuned opening and thumping bass backing. The soundtrack to the year’s banking crisis, this is this album’s ‘Soldiers of Satan’ and ‘Sex Wars’ with a similar sound. It has some of the stupidest lyrics on the album but equally it has the best structure and development. With several contenders for the chorus, it’s a track that stops you from losing interest with lots of developments through its three-and-half-minute running time.
After this point, sadly, the album does lose its focus a little. ‘Gravy Train’ continues the mix of electronic and pop stylings but is not particularly interesting outside of its fun keyboard riff and speedy chorus. ‘Military Man’ goes a little seventies with a gruff falsetto line and thrusts a little disco-stylings into the mix but again is just an average tune compared to the highlights of the album.
‘Lazy As Fuck’ is the nearest the album gets to a ballad and is a better tune than what precedes it, thanks mostly to more biting lyrics, but is still lacking the buzz that gave the first two-thirds of the album the buzz.
The album closes on ‘Summer of the Purple Man’, a far better closer than that on “Covered In Gas”. A mid-to-strong ending to the album, it works as a closer with more enjoyable story-based lyrics with a musical-focussed chorus. Not the greatest end to an album but it wraps things up nicely even if the ending is rather abrupt.
“Moving Through Security” is an album that will take a few listens to really stick in and its poppier vibes might sway a few more Electric Six or Fall On Your Sword fans over to this. I really enjoyed their debut album and find that the combination of the two artists’ talents compliment each other and the different direction works. Perhaps not as good as the first album it still has some great highlights. ‘System Overload’, ‘Moving Through Security’, ‘Jerkin’ Each Other Around’ and ‘Rich Kids’ are all great tracks that stand up with anything Electric Six have ever done and the album is rounded off nicely. It does tail off in the final third but this 43-minutes of poppy-electro-dance music is an enjoyable album with plenty of hooks and changes to keep your interest. Well worth a purchase if you enjoyed their debut album and if you didn’t, then the more commercial style of this release might just sway you.
(7/10)
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