Shoegaze survivors and sonic revivalists MOVIELAND are officially back in action with a brand-new album,\u00a0\u2018Now & Then\u2019\u2014out now via 604 Records. If their name sounds familiar, you might\u2019ve caught last year\u2019s reissue\u00a0\u2018Then & Now,\u2019 which reintroduced their dreamy, reverb-drenched sound to a whole new crowd. This time, though, it\u2019s not a reissue\u2014it\u2019s the real deal. New material, same magnetic vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This album wasn\u2019t originally part of the plan. When 604\u2019s Jonathan Simkin approached frontman Alan D. Boyd about re-releasing the band\u2019s early work for the label\u2019s Decades series, Boyd pitched something more. \u201cI asked if he\u2019d be interested in me recording a few new tracks for a follow-up release,\u201d<\/em> he says. \u201cHe said yes and gave me a budget for an EP. Of course, I went and recorded an album.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That album is\u00a0\u2018Now & Then\u2019\u2014a collection of songs pulled from different decades, cities, and creative headspaces. Some were written in ’90s basements, others were unfinished demos waiting for the right moment, and a couple came together just days before recording. Boyd started tracking in his old London studio, then finished things off in Edmonton and Vancouver, calling in collaborators from both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contributors include Rex Roulette (Eagles of Death Metal), Freddie Cowan (The Vaccines), Ev Laroi (Idyl Tea), and Tom Murray (Old Reliable), alongside longtime MOVIELAND members John and Clancy, who added drums and bass remotely. \u201cIt was the last big project I completed in my studio,<\/em>\u201d says Boyd. \u201cSo it feels pretty special to me.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The album\u2019s lead single,\u00a0Just a Second,<\/em>\u00a0is a two-minute alt-rock rush that came together fast. \u201cIt was written in about ten minutes while I was messing with a new tuning,\u201d<\/em> Boyd says. \u201cWe demoed it immediately, then recorded it in three takes.\u201d<\/em> The video\u2014directed by Charlene Rule\u2014features Boyd\u2019s niece\u2019s band DIVYNE, his nephew as the main character, and a mashup of early 2000s New York footage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n