This is how we used to make fun of pop music, with the following description: “Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus…chorus, chorus, chorus, fadeout.” That this applied to songs like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Superstition,” and “The Tracks of my Tears” seemed to not matter at all. Intoxicated by college rock smugness, is what we were. Oh yes, we had just discovered R.E.M. We were cool. (Psssst…it was years later that I finally admitted to harboring a secret love of “Afternoon Delight” by the Starland Vocal Band. Apparently, smugness and shame are orthogonal attributes.)

The thing is, it’s not like I was consistent in my musical prejudice. After all, what was New Wave but pop music wrapped in some extra keyboards and sideways haircuts? Did that stop me from loving Wall of Voodoo or Devo? Of course not!

The point of this ramble is that there are many ways to evaluate music, something that my smugger-than-thou self would finally come to realize. It’s not just harmonic structure, or melody or even the complexity factor. No, there are things like dynamics, texture, instrumental interplay, repetition, randomness, and chaos.

The music of Moving Pictures provides a great example. The trio — Jentri Jollimore (keys, vocals), Randy Patrick (guitar, vocals), and Ben Rogers (drums) — works in a very broad genre commonly referred to as “post-rock.” Though that label is only slightly less useless than “World Music,” it does at least serve to link together bands who use rock instrumentation to produce music that pushes outside that particular boundary. If you’ve ever heard the music of Tortoise, Explosions In The Sky, or Godspeed You Black Emperor (for older folks, the previous 61 characters can be translated as: King Crimson), your ears are at least somewhat familiar with the genre’s parameters. Most of the music reminds me of the expansiveness of 1970’s art rock, without the pomp.

On Age of Reason, Moving Pictures lets ideas unfold slowly, with interlocked melodies being allowed to take shape and then morph over very long periods of repetition. The opening track, “Two Boys Journey Through The Woods,” showcases the band’s range. Employing everything from delicate arpeggios to moody pedal tones to brutal walls of guitar bluster, it might take a while (and I don’t just mean the song length: 20:06) to get your ears wrapped around all of the musical ideas. It’ll be time well-spent though, trust me.

The title track begins with a terrific circular artificial harmonic riff that’s extended for several minutes until the the band appears to get sucked into a Black Hole, the music dropping back to near-silence. From this point on, chiming guitar figures and subtle keyboard tones serve as introduction to a short vocal duet (Don’t ask me about the lyrics, I never understand them) which in turn leads into the song’s concluding frame — a rising dirge that fixes itself onto two repeated and crushed chords.

“Red Rocks” concludes the program and is similarly full of sonic textures and inspiring interplay. ‘Interplay’ is a very important word here, as you’ll be struck by the cohesiveness of the presentation. The drum work of Ben Rogers just might be the key to this. He’s equally comfortable playing at levels from the very quiet to the monstrously loud, making the transitions in the songs flow without incident.

Somehow, I’ve managed to grow into appreciating music like this, despite my (supposedly) former love of the Starland Vocal Band.

Moving Pictures is a Monadnock-based band representing the towns of Fitzwilliam, Swanzey, and Rindge. For more information, please check their website