Album Review : Magic Kids - Memphis
- Written by Antonio Tzikas
I don’t know whether it’s jealousy mixed with sheer admiration but I’m always quite wary of good music made by kids and at the same time incredibly envious of their youthful optimism and wide eyed innocence, as yet uncorrupted by the fickle music world. A great example of one of those bands is Magic Kids, a young band from Memphis who are attracting huge online attention for their sunny update of the ’60s California pop/Beach Boys sound despite only having had a few songs hit the blogosphere over the past year or so. That’s all it takes these days though and it has secured them a signing with True Panther Sounds and a debut album, Memphis.
Where Magic Kids differ slightly from their contemporaries such as Smith Westerns (with whom they released a split 7” with earlier this year) is their ability to capture the same energy and transfer it into a more complex song structure. The sound not so much borrows from the classic US pop template of the ‘60s as continues and updates it (think Beach Boys and Spector) which is unusual for bands of Magic Kids age, who generally prefer three chord fuzzing to high harmonies, sleigh bells and strings parts.
The accomplished song craft on show is accompanied by saccharine lyrics that, although far from being derivative and obvious, do centre around first girlfriends, summer flings and teenage crushes - prime subject matter for classic pop and done in the naive and clean cut manner of those early Beatles songs and, although it turns lot of people off, seems appropriate for the Magic Kids happy-go-lucky sound. The bands manifesto is to “spread happiness to the world” which they attempt with promising results on this record. Although the lack of aggression or even a hint of distortion anywhere is usually construed as safe, boring music, I think their case is an exception.
Lead single ‘Hey Boy’ is the best example of just how prominently the Beach Boys sound features on this record. The lead vocal echoes a young Brian Wilson, but I daresay if it sounded like McCartney then the whole mood of the album would seem Beatle-esque as the music is so set in that era. The only time there’s any straying from the plan is on ‘Little Red Radio’ and even then only toward the very end of the song. The instrumentation and structure of all the songs borrow from the Pet Sounds style - guitars are often substituted for strings, brass and luscious backing which gives the record a depth and a sense of timelessness, as demonstrated heavily on album highlight ‘Hideout’.
Perhaps the best thing about Magic Kids is how they manage to use the ‘60s sound so well in their music without it sounding silly. The 1960s is the most dredged decade for style ideas across the musical spectrum but the results usually either come up short or piled too high with references to be taken seriously - luckily Magic Kids have struck the perfect balance. Don’t expect even the slightest nudge of the envelope on this record though, it’s just 100% pop brilliance worthy of all the praise it gets.