Album Review: Machiner – Motion Waves

From the post-industrial fringes of the Northeast comes Motion Waves, the debut album from Machiner, one that delivers emotion, self-reflection and ambition wrapped in a truly cinematic sound.

The trio of Paul McCarte (guitar, vocals, keyboards, field recordings, rhythm programming and orchestration), Nick Crozier (guitar) and Eddie Rees (bass and backing vocals) offer a steampunk industrialism alt rock gift, with nods of influence from New Order, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, but with enough of its own identity to make those reference points feel like a backdrop rather than the foreground; even the lower case track titling gives off a vibe, with the album cover reflecting the music within perfectly. This is clearly all consciously created and considered.

silent running opens with a Kraftwerk-like precision, clean vocals, harmonies sitting beautifully alongside a synth bubble, hypnotic and oceanic. New Order’s shadow is present but not overbearing. “In the hate and soul and fear and hope”, it’s dark, dystopian, and immediately arresting. ‘the between’ follows with a slow-burning synth build and some of the album’s most vulnerable writing; “the resolve I once had is a dream” and “can’t fight something I’ve always been”, the sorts of lines that deliver a personalised view depending on where you are in your own head when you hear them. Guitars bring heaviness and the track closes with synth echo and silence, which proves just as impactful as anything that came before.

ivory skies is where the album really opens up. Field recordings of life continuing around, indifferent and relentless, while the narrator appears to sit apart from it. There are moments of Peter Gabriel here, Talk Talk in their later years, Brian Eno’s quieter work. The pauses create drama, tempo shifts paint images, and just when you think it might resolve into something hopeful, it drops off the edge into nothingness. Deliberately. Perfectly.

dark age leans furthest into the Depeche Mode influence, drum beat, lead synth, counter melody guitar, but it’s searching for light within the darkness, reaching for the surface of drowning waters. “Don’t make me play” is a pleading line answered by guitar in sympathy. ‘the sound of disappearing’ is the album’s most meditative moment, with synth drips and serenity. It’s a track that won’t make you dance but will absolutely sit and hold your hand. The rage lives in the silences rather than the sound.

iceburn deals in longing and being forgotten; “there was snow falling inside of you” is quite possibly the album’s most quietly devastating line, while ‘cast me in amber’ introduces an unexpected EDM energy alongside orchestral electronica, before the final minute shifts into something almost Celtic, drums urgent, guitars pushing towards escape. It’s a genuine surprise and a welcome one.

‘ever over’ closes the album; cinematic, sci-fi, Mogwai-like in atmosphere with touches of Public Service Broadcasting. This is the track that will be something else entirely when Machiner play the album launch at Pealie’s Barn, Northallerton, Sunday 5 July. It ends in echoes. How can so much be said in the silence?

Motion Waves is available on limited coloured vinyl and digital formats via Butterfly Effect Records from 7th August 2026.

It’s immersive, introspective, and built for repeated exploration; this one rewards the patient listener over and over again.