764-HERO started as the duo of John Atkins and Polly Johnson
with Atkins taking control over everything except the drums.
A couple albums ago they added a bassist. Evidently that
put a huge strain on Atkins' creative freedom, because
The Magic Magicians is a new side-project for Atkins pairing
him with another drummer, Joe Plummer of The Black Heart
Procession, where once again Atkins can take control over
everything except the drums.
Girls is the first album of The Magic Magicians, and it was
recorded over the last couple years by Atkins and Plummer
with plenty of guests, including Johnson, a member of
Sleater-Kinney, and that guy who played bass for J Mascis
after Lou left. The project is an outlet for Atkins to try
an entirely different type of songwriting, lessening the
indie rock quotient for which he has become known, throwing
a lot more pop in the mix. While Atkins' rock flavor
is somewhat blandly indie--hard to separate from Built to
Spill and all the other bands of the Pacific Northwest who
want to sound like Built to Spill--but his pop flavor is
a bit less easy to pin down.
Atkins' vocals seem to take the form, rhythmically, of
the Beatles' singing (pre-LSD), forcing as much expression
as possible into the pronunciation of each syllable, taking
great care to make sure the way he says the words as is
interesting as what is being said. His voice, however,
is distinctively his, for better or worse. The atonal strain
and lack of range in his voice is still present, which
while it may add to the feeling and power of the music of his
normal band seems to distract from the quality of this, his
pop band, to some extent.
Musically, Atkins' guitar and Plummer's drums are
straightforward but well done. Atkins' palette is much
similar to what he uses in his other band, but the way
he uses it, amazingly, comes out all different in this
band. In "Everyone is Wrong" guitars fuzz out and blare,
but instead of turning into rock and roll aggression, they
lead up to the toe-tapping chorus. In "Anglophiles,"
Atkins uses a razor-like guitar sound, but plays his notes
in such an abbreviated manner, the song turns out to be
slow pseudo-ballad. In "I'm On Your Side," keyboards are
used to play a sweeping melody to create a 70s pop sound.
Ultimately, the songs of The Magic Magicians are pleasing
and engaging, which I guess is all that really matters.
I'd much rather Atkins' write songs like these than like his
764-HERO material.
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