Making Movies – In Deo Speramus

The intriguing Panama-via-Kansas City vibe promised by Making Movies’ (or to be more precise, guitarist/vocalist Enrique Javier Chi’s) South American roots surfaces sporadically on their debut In Deo Speramus, in a bunch of songs that are foremost worthy for their strong melody and dynamics, with or without a deeper trans-cultural transcendence.

In addition to – and in contrast to – the expectation of sweaty Panamanian swing there was some fear of stodginess based on the band’s choice of a Dire Straits album title for their own name. In Deo Speramus thankfully doesn’t remind me much of those guys (which is unfair to Dire Straits, I realize, but this is not the place to debate their merits) but instead sound more like some typical modern indie stalwarts, especially Bloc Party, albeit with less spunk and more timbale.

The bilingual lyrics and dark shading of some of the chord progressions hint at a kind of sophistication and romanticism that you might expect from any outfit with a Latin-American bent. Sometimes though, those rhythms sink farther into the fabric of a song – “I’m In If You’re In” being one example – while at other times (“Worry for Me”) they seem more an exotic addition to an otherwise overly familiar type of song.

The added percussion sure sounds good, though. The small variety of percussive effects usually present in a guitar-based pop recording can be summed up thus: snare, toms, cymbals, kick. Here, on a song like “Weep For Me,” when the chorus breaks open into a skipping minor-key motif, behind this is a series of rolling conga fills that color the arrangement in an unusual way. Not ‘unusual’ in the sense of odd or unexpectedly creative – Making Movies is a fairly standard radio-ready indie outfit overall – but in that these percussive sounds don’t usually find a way in to indie-rock, at least not without the band making a more obvious attempt for a pan-ethnic sound than MM does here.

But besides the curiosity of the percussion, In Deo Speramus has some strong songs and playing, too. The subtle harmony vocals and uncluttered guitar and piano parts of “Da La Vuelta” are carried on the songs lilting rhythm, one of the instances when Making Movies comes closest to their stated goal of creating a New Wave Salsa. “Tormenta” is another good example of slightly salsa-fied indie action, with the standard post-punk downstroking guitars and swooning choruses supported by a battery of percolating percussion.

“La Marcha” is not a song that works, however. The band tries a bit too hard here and veers into sub-Santana territory with a forgettable tune spiced up by some Cuban-style piano, but to no great effect. Better when Making Movies uses their Latin influences in service of their otherwise well-written and played if slightly derivative and mostly gringo alt-rock.

That fusion may not win them any awards for bridging cultures, or for crossing borders, but it does at least allow In Deo Speramus to put its own authoritative spin on a familiar but still engaging sound.