aaamusic | On 05, Jun 2012

Having never heard of The Magic before, I wasn’t too sure what to expect from their debut single – ‘Mr Hollywood’ – but as soon as I heard the intro, I knew I’d love it.
The band, made up of Canadian brothers Geordie and Evan Gordon, accompanied by Sylvie Smith and Aaron Curtis, have a very similar sound to bands such as Hot Chip and White Lies. Geordie provides the vocals as well as playing guitar and keys, whilst his brother, Evan, provides backing vocals, plays bass, and works on production too. Sylvie Smith also provides vocals and plays keys, and Aaron is the bands drummer.
Their talent shines through on this single as all the instruments flow smoothly and work well together. I know that might sound like a weird thing to say, that the instruments flow smoothly, but there are so many songs out nowadays in which the instruments seem to jump about a bit and it suddenly sounds like a different song – not the case with this track.
As mentioned previously, the band sounds similar to Hot Chip and White Lies so if you’re a fan of either of those bands, you’ll probably enjoy The Magic’s music. In fact, the intro reminds me of White Lies ‘Farewell to the Fairground’ which is brilliant but I can imagine it would cause me sheer confusion were it to pop up on my iPod.
At first, I wasn’t sure of the female vocals on ‘Mr Hollywood’. There’s no denying that Sylvie Smith has a beautiful voice – she sounds like the lead singer of The Jezabels – but I wasn’t sure that her voice worked well with the lead singer of The Magic. After a few listens, however, I noticed that the two managed to complement each other well. The lead vocals are average, they get the job done but they’re nothing to shout from the rooftops about.
The lyrics are fairly good and I found myself singing along to the chorus after a while. It gets stuck in your brain but not in an annoying way; in the kind of way that makes you want to listen to the song without getting annoyed by it.
Overall, this song is incredible. It’s catchy without being frustrating, the band have their own sound but with hints of the bands that must have inspired them shining through. Each member of the band is talented and can hold their own. Also, as I’ve said so many times already, they sound like Hot Chip so you can imagine my delight at discovering they’re opening for Hot Chip in Toronto on July 15th.

★★★★★

Melisa Greenfield