"Move On" is Tel-Aviv based electronic indie pop trio Garden City Movement's (Roi Avital on vocals, keyboards and guitar; Joe Saar on guitar, sampler, and keyboards; Johnny Sharoni on vocals, sampler, and percussion) best-known track (it was released as part of their first EP, Entertainment (2013)). It's impossibly and impeccably lush - as befitting a band that named themself after a method of urban planning that envisioned urban communties living alongside greenbelts within garden cities.
Avital and Sharoni's vocals are muted, echoed and intertwined within a choral backdrop for most of the song, making it difficult to decipher exactly what they're saying. Not that it particularly matters: the slow-paced and hazy lyrics lull you into an intimate and escapist sonic atmosphere marked by emotional inertia and intense nostalgia for the highlights of a memorable relationship that is about to be terminated:
'Late night storiesRunning naked, cutting through the breezeKissing your eyesWorking onto our headsCatching stars and seePresses up to meWhispers “Take me in”Soft skinned covered shellsHearing distant bellsIn to the atmosphere
I know, I know(Move On )(Move On )Now it’s time to move onMove OnNow it’s time to move onMove On(Move On )(Move On )(Move On )(Move On )Fragile chocolatesSigns of them are peeking through the cloudsLooking at you sleep inGently on the sideStart to fade awayLeaving vapor trailsPlease forgive me loveThanks to first and lastI’m always in the pastRun from what can hurt'
Lyrics: Genius
The tension soars during the chorus, accompanying the difficult realization ('I know, I know/ (Move On )/ (Move On )/ It’s time to move on'), which is of course easier said that done. Gabriel Szatan describes the track's modus operandi succintly: "Beginning with a lowly thump and soft clicks, everything unfolds on a minute scale: The hushed, intertwined vocals are propped up by an undulating guitar lead and a barely-there choral backdrop that brings to mind the intimacy of early Youth Lagoon. The tension rises, broken by slightly modulated sigh of "move on", bringing a crest of warm bass pushing through the chorus. Sharp notes ring out, falling like suspended water droplets that form a babbling brook, all that remains as the final coda crumbles".
The accompanying music video's breathtakingly gorgeous, sensual and melancholic visual aesthetics complements the track's meaning brilliantly. Co-director Michael Moshonov has explained the inspiration for the video's 'doomed lesbian lovers' narrative to FADER: "The video was made with love. In today's progressive world, it's still hard for people to accept love between the same sex. This clip goes to show exactly that. It also shows that even if a heart's broken it was still worth feeling love even if it was too short".
