People are slurping up dream pop these days. It’s everywhere. If a band is not endowed in the sound, they’re at least flirting with it. Hell, even James Mercer of The Shins borrows some of the flavors in each of the three Shins releases. In a world committed to chaos, perhaps it’s a sound with advantages, an escape to somewhere else. Scattered guitar lines, bubbly bass lines, and lounge drumming, all equal a successful formula, so take note all independent artists out there. One band in no need for my lesson is Boston’s own Magic Magic.

Despite being likened to The Arcade Fire, Magic Magic meanders between The Kinks and My Morning Jacket, only with a bitter, sour taste. But we like sour, right? It’s punchy, in a sense that this is music with both repetition and flavor. What is even more intriguing is that these New England musicians somehow managed to grasp that creamy, Californian bite. Yowza.

“Savage” is fueled by a drifting guitar line, hip swaying bass, and high pitched vocals that mirror an early James Mercer. “Over Your Heart” is a paint by numbers, melancholy dramedy that whispers Wes Anderson. It’s easy to get caught up in the mercurial candy of it all, but even harder to draw yourself out of it.

Lounge would be a fitting genre for Magic Magic. It’s hard to imagine the band outdoors, let alone during the day. This is a night band, restricted to the dead hours of night as Ray Bradbury sketched out in Something Wicked This Way Comes. Nadav Carmel, of PerformerMag.com, seemed impressed with the act, “Every song was a multi-part, miniature pop odyssey, grounded by the band’s two(!) drummers, but handily avoiding the prog-rock pretensions other bands often fall prey to.” I like the word odyssey here, it’s something I would attribute this music to, if I haven’t already.

Without a label, the band is constricted to the New England territory, which is unfortunate for the rest of the country. The band’s MySpace is littered with little reminders that scream, “LP OUT SOON!”, so one has to wait I guess. Currently, they’re spinning up some shows in and around Boston, including a radio gig at Pipeline! WMBR Radio on the Cinco de Mayo.

Things change.

Check Out:
“God’s Song”

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Categories: Listen
Tags: Magic Magic