Poignant, emotive and enthralling

Liela Moss returns with her third album, Internal Working Model, with star-studded guests accompanying her along the way. Moss’ prior, Who The Power, set foundations for her affinity for rhythms with a touch of electronica and synth; Internal Working Model, on the other hand, revisits this idea, and in Moss’s words, “tries to plug [itself] into a new community.” Moss, who worked on the album with partner Toby Butler, split time between spending time as a family and strategically creating the theme of the album and its factorial moving parts. The opening track, “Empathy Files,” is a fitting testament to this, with Moss’s low and raspy vocals giving her a stately first impression. A deep, robotic and xylophone-like bass line encircles Moss’ voice, giving it an enthralling, hard-to-resist futuristic atmosphere.

Industrial sounds are all around in Internal Working Model. The second track, “Woo (No One’s Awake)” begins with said industrial notes, breaking into instrumentals backing a powerful and emotive performance from Moss. Hidden in her lyrics are rather poignant words, for example, in this track, Moss repeats “When no one’s awake / you hide your mistakes”, which both serve well in the track’s groove and in with the album’s substantive overarching theme. “The Wall From The Floor” is a throwback to moody 80s synth melodies, eventually breaking into a more contemporary sound, with a drumbeat, static keyboard lines. Moss’ lyrical vocals and hums, which occur all throughout, serve as a reminder of the track’s place in time even if her lyrics suggest otherwise–towards the end of the track, she frequently reiterates the words “I can’t tell the wall from the floor / I can’t tell anymore”, deepening the complicated, yet invigorating lore of Internal Working Model.

“Vanishing Shadows” is an immediate reminder of Gary Numan’s affinity for the robotic, especially for long-time fans. Impressively, Numan’s call-and-response vocals with Moss sound almost unchanged from the height of his career in the 1980s. The track, first released as a single in 2022, makes its mark as the most memorable of Internal Working Model, more so as the same synthetic backdrops fit well with their harmonies. “Ache In the Middle,” which was nearly already complete when Jehnny Beth added her voice to the track, is a less upbeat number, lined again with a low timbre. Moss and Beth’s harmonies are somewhat similar in structure to “Vanishing Shadows”, but this time, it’s more thoughtful and contemplative; a single, low piano chord plays periodically, emphasizing this emotion.

Finally, “Love As Hard As You Can”, the last track of the album, is surprisingly, not dissimilar to “Empathy Files.” Any differences to the opening track are perhaps because “Love As Hard As You Can” is in a completely different key, evoking a very different, more finite atmosphere. Dhani Harrison, the featured artist on this track, isn’t as identifiable as her previous counterparts: her efforts are instead emblemized by the layered moving parts of the track, as well as the ethereal voices heard throughout. “Love As Hard As You Can” serves well as Internal Working Model’s parting gift with Moss’ message to continuously share love and feel its rewards–to which her voice, fading out, sings “you feel that?”–as the track comes to an end.