Movements are back in album-cycle mode. The Southern California post-hardcore band have announced Happier Now, their fourth full-length album, due September 4 via Fearless Records. They previewed it today with two new singles, “Dissolve Me” and “Back In My Ways,” which arrive as a paired video.
The announcement lands in a lane Movements know well: emotionally direct, guitar-forward rock that still has enough bite to keep one foot in the post-hardcore room. Their last album, 2023's RUCKUS!, pushed the band toward brighter hooks and a wider alt-rock frame. Happier Now, at least from the way vocalist Patrick Miranda talks about it, sounds like an attempt to stitch that newer scale back to the more wounded early-Movements nerve.
“I think at first we weren’t really sure what the record was going to be,” Miranda told Kerrang. “We all had a general idea: We wanted it to bring in the early elements of our sound and blend it with the newer material like RUCKUS! and mesh both of those sounds.” That is a smart brief for this band. Movements work best when the songs feel clean enough to sing back and ugly enough underneath to leave a bruise.
Blabbermouth lists Happier Now as a 12-track record once again helmed by Will Yip, whose résumé includes Turnstile, Title Fight, and Circa Survive. The tracklist opens with “Pulse” and runs through “Dissolve Me,” “Everything Is Fine,” the title track, “Flowerbed,” “Back In My Ways,” “Spellbound,” “Ill At Ease,” “Live By The Sword,” “Everyone I've Ever Been,” “Fragile Hands,” and “Separate.”
Miranda frames “Dissolve Me” as the song that set the record's internal compass. “Nailing the lead single for an album cycle on the first try is a significant accomplishment,” he said, calling it “the perfect culmination of energy, emotion, and growth for us sonically.” He describes the song as a confession about social behaviors and the small everyday interactions that can become debilitating over time.
“Back In My Ways” seems to pull from a different corner of the same room. Miranda told Kerrang he “kinda hated” the track at first because part of him was hesitant to slip back into the “sadder” side of the band's music, but said it has become one of his favorite tracks on the record. That tension is probably the point. Movements have always been better when they are arguing with themselves a little.
Happier Now is available for pre-order now through Fearless, whose official artist page lists multiple vinyl variants, CD, digital album, and apparel tied to the release. If the two-single opening shot is the thesis, the album is aiming for the middle ground between catharsis and polish, which is exactly where Movements can do the most damage.