Houston, Texas is home to up-and-coming instrumental post-rock group Motion Turns It On. Their debut EP Rima is sure to make plenty of noise in the progressive alternative rock scene and may even give some of their Texas brethren a run for their money.
This release's six songs contain enthusiastic and frankly top notch musicianship and production for a band making their debut here. So, what or who do they sound like? It's tough to say but they could be seen as a somewhat louder, math rock version of Austin, Texas instrumental, ambient post-rock band Explosions In The Sky. Their often adventurous yet structured progressions and aggressive, jagged edged riffs and sometimes dreamy/spacey sounds also shows traces of the Mars Volta (minus the vocals). But again, just when you think you've heard this before, the music veers off into new directions, thus making it hard to pinpoint to any one group. It is however, a brand of instrumental post-rock, unique as it is.
The standout track on Rima is "Satelightning," with its soaring, mournful and almost shoegazer-like guitars and piano licks that match that emotion. Guitarist William Kenny's swirling six-string action is complemented by a tight and highly expressive rhythm section, with Derek Sinquefield on bass and Steve Smith on the skins. And on this track, as on others, Smith alternates between complex, speedy rhythms and slower, simpler ones with ease, while Sinquefield hops around the high and lows strings of his bass, never content to just stay in one place for any length of time.
"Southern Diatribe" is an epic ten-minute prog rocker that evolves into a spacey frontier nearly halfway through, highlighting keyboardist Andres Londono's work. The leadoff and self-titled track "Rima" is perhaps their loudest, full-on rock tune and where you can hear comparisons to the Mars Volta come into fruition. "Spitekyte" builds into a powerful, organ-aided tune that nearly matches "Rima"' in loudness and intensity. And "Daily Juice" starts out like early Verve before the band's dreamy/psychedelic-math-and-prog rock fusion takes over.
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