Magic from the numbers!
Much beloved UK rockers The Magic Numbers launch a new album, Alias, this Friday, in advance of their highly anticipated return to Ireland with a show at The Academy, Dublin on Saturday 27th September.
Exultant harmonies, sweeping melodies, driving rock and gorgeous ballads:The Magic Numbers are past masters at making music that lifts the spirits. Fourth time around, though, it is time to cast a new spell. Alias is the Magic Numbers as we always dreamed they could sound, heavier, sweeter, richer, deeper than ever before, a classic British songwriting band at the height of their powers.
Alias, releasing on Friday 15th August, is an album sprinkled with stardust. From the epic Floydian psychedelia of Wake Up to the Neil Young style wig out rock of Shot In The Dark, from the dark, melodramatic 50’s balladry of Roy Orbison to the dreamy, Dusty Springfield string laden English soul of Thought I Wasn’t Ready, The Magic Numbers have absorbed and transformed their influences into alchemical gold. “There are some different reference points, but as soon as we start singing you know it’s us,” says Romeo.
Formed in 2003, The Magic Numbers quickly won the affection of critics and audiences with their Mercury nominated, top ten, double platinum debut in 2005. They honed and refined their guitar and harmony sound on Those The Brokes (2006) before widening out with a more orchestral, piano led and studio based set on 2010’s The Runaway. The journey has not always been an easy one, however. “Music was all I’d ever dreamed about, and I thought it was going to be the answer to everything. But when success came, I felt worse, almost. There was still this void inside. I couldn’t understand it. I destroyed a lot of things.” Since the last record, a long term relationship ended, another began, and Romeo became a father for the first time. “Alias was written between two extremes, something that was really traumatic that had been festering for years with a lot of pain and guilt, and a new lease of life. My little boy was the best thing that ever happened to me. Fatherhood takes you away from all that self-absorbed nonsense, puts life into perspective somewhat. At the same time I’ve now got a lot more focus and drive. I’ve been asking a lot of questions with these songs, trying to find a way to exist without constantly beating myself up, creating music is what I'm naturally compelled to do, and so I need do it the best I can for myself and not worry about any of the outside stuff that I have no control over. I feel like I did before the first album, ready and excited about what’s to come.”
There are two sets of brothers and sisters in Magic Numbers, the Stodarts (vocalist and multi- instrumentalist Romeo and bassist and multi-instrumentalist Michele) and the Gannons (drummer Seanand vocalist and keyboardist Angela). “Creatively, it does divide into two sibling camps,” says Romeo, “But within that there’s another two camps, the boys and the girls.” Romeo and Michele work closely on arrangements, while Sean and Angela come into their own in performance. “The Gannon’s really love playing, and for this album, we wanted to capture that energy, something that can be so elusive in the studio, just getting to that almost unconscious state of playing and not thinking.”
If Alias had its roots in an identity crisis, it is one that is resolved by the music itself. “What can we do except try and make something that we love? That’s everything we can do.”
Take a listen. Because The Magic Numbers really are making magic.