SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MOVIE CLUB – GREAT WHITE

MOVIE CLUB
GREAT WHITE
INDEPENDENT

Nothing screams psychedelic rock quite like extended guitar riffs, imaginative musical deviations, and perception altering melodies. With their full-length instrumental album Great White, LA rock duo Movie Club delivers on these expectations, submerging the listener in an audible experience akin to hopelessly navigating the ocean-depths, one fearsome guitar riff at a time.

The album, appropriately named after the man-eater of the sea, is packed with ominous audio effects, screeching guitar lines, and booming, ferocious riffs. These features create an intensity that is symphonic in its dynamic range. It feels as if the album is trying to provide you with the experience of being lost at sea, helplessly stalked by the many dangers that could be looming unknown in its vast expanse.

The majority of the songs are dark and moody, propelled forward with a melodic saltiness that only the sea could conjure. Take “Dusk” as an example, a searching melody swims through a rhythmic wall of ambient percussion. Its movement is menacing, gliding through the song like a predator stalking its prey. The track ends with a raucous crescendo, and one can only expect that the outcome is as devastating as the sinister tune suggests.

These threatening guitar melodies are scattered throughout the entirety of the album, often backed with a thunderous rhythmic performance, composing the general theme of an underwater cruise riddled with menacing consequences. The album caps off with “Goblin”, which features a haunting piano track that sends fear into the hearts of the listener. The eery melody is a noticeable diversion from the raucous guitar riffs experienced previously, instead playing like a funeral march, closing out the album with a whisper of despair.

In the world of shark-themed musical performances, I can honestly say that this is the best I’ve experienced yet. The Jaws theme only had two notes. The inventive psychedelic structures and dynamic mood created in this album blow any competition out of the water. Psychedelia is supposed to be interesting and musically engaging, altering perception according to a certain mood. Movie Club successfully offers such an experience with this performance.

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