Review: Magnetic Morning - Magnetic Morning EP

by Kevin Eagan

Out of all the critically successful new albums coming out this year, a theme seems to be emerging: many of the best albums have come from side projects and supergroups. From The Gutter Twins' Saturnalia and The Raconteurs' Consolers of the Lonely to Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams, the supergroups and solo projects have reigned supreme, and there appears to be many more of these albums to come.

Magnetic Morning have come along to add to the ranks with their self-titled EP, released in conjunction with Record Store Day to show their support--and roots within--the indie underground. The group consists of guitarist Adam Franklin of Swervedriver and drummer Sam Fogarino of Interpol, and although the short Magnetic Morning EP only gives listeners a taste of things to come, the EP boasts some beautifully lush, ambient compositions.

Magnetic Morning starts off with "Cold War Kids," an atmospheric and layered song that loops around situational lyrics ("You and me / Cold War kids"). "Cold War Kids" starts an album that will verge on the edge of experimentation, but won't quite get there; if anything, Magnetic Morning are too subdued for a band that slabs on the reverb and noise. Nevertheless, "Cold War Kids" is a great beginning, and hearkens back to a time when slow and methodical meant dreamy and beautiful. I suppose we can thank the Swervedriver influence for that, because there's certainly a shoegaze ambience to this album that is not afraid to borrow from the past.

The EP continues with "Yesterday's Flowers," a bombastic song with reverberating piano chords, pounding drums, and Franklin's lazy-yet-conscious vocals. "Yesterday's Flowers" is spacy, but still seems grounded; although the piano parts float around in the background and barely hold the song together, the drums and acoustic guitar riffs come to the forefront and take over.

"The Way Love Used To Be" is a tight and accessible Kinks cover that the band revisits in an exciting way. The guitars and percussion take over the dreary backdrop of reverb, and Franklin sings "I know a place where we'll be alone / And we'll talk of life / The way love used to be," suggesting a postivity that puts the ambient noise in a completely different context. "The Way Love Used To Be" is certainly the EP's strongest song, giving the band a potential single and a worthy addition to a future full-length release.

On the rest of the short EP, the songs aren't nearly as tight and accessible as "Yesterday's Flowers" or "The Way Love Used To Be." On "Don't Go to Dream State," Franklin's vocals get drowned out by the strings and sliding guitars, and Fogarino's drums are powerful but overwhelming. "Don't Go to Dream State" shows a band so enamored in noise and experimental studio excess that they ignore the basic elements of a potentially good song, and the listener is left trying to make sense of it all. The rest of the album tapers off in this way and doesn't offer anything new, only two pointless remixes of "Cold War Kids" that fall short.

Although the album has been available via iTunes for a couple months (it was originally named The Setting Suns EP before the band changed their name), the Magnetic Morning EP is now available on CD at your local record store. It's still available via iTunes as well, but as far as I can tell, it's not available via Amazon or any other online stores yet (they must not like this Record Store Day celebration too much, I guess). Despite its shortcomings, the Magnetic Morning EP is still a nice little sample of this side project's musical capabilities, and hopefully we'll see a full length LP from the band soon.

Originally posted on Blogcritics.org