MOTA - Closure

Hear The Track Here

Chris Bishop's choice for this month (after much persuading let me tell you, the poor guy needs a break after his honeymoon) is yet another exotic Asian band. MOTA look like a four or five piece band from the State of Brunei, an island of calm in a very troubled area. Outside of that, they have two tracks on their page; one punk and one acoustic (this one). Now I can well imagine punk from this part of the world. I personally know lots of small bands in the area who specialise in the roughest rock sounds known to man. Acoustic, however, is a different story and, to be honest, I can't remember having reviewed anything less than ear shattering from this part of the world. Still, life is there for the experiencing, right?

Certainly Closure is aurally a world away from the raucous, lo-fi I usually hear from that part of the world and so is the general level of professionalism. Moreover, if I had heard this without knowing anything about the musicians I would have sworn that this was a Western track in thought and execution. That's not to say that the East has nothing to offer, as you know I am a keen fan of Eastern music in all its forms, but its never usually as technically polished as this nor so commercially oriented.

The most striking thing of all about Closure is that it's first and foremost a really good song, with pace and styling that echoes the very best pop, and the clear, clean vocals are the icing on the cake. Although it struck me from the outset just how good a track it was, I must admit to some surprise that - once I got used to it - how sparse and spare everything is. A couple of voices, the basic guitar structure and that's pretty much your lot. It doesn't sound like that when you are listening though; it's warm full and engaging in the best possible way.

Highly Recommended Acoustic Pop from Brunei