YOUNG MAGIC play the Garrison on July 5. See listing. Rating: NN
NYC-based Australian-Indonesian trio Young Magic recorded their debut LP in no fewer than 10 countries, the by-product of a global musical pilgrimage that meshed influences from Africa, South America and Europe. Don’t worry if that sounds like an overstuffed geo-cultural mélange: their new album mostly just sounds like Brooklyn.
Though it carries hints of West African rhythms, 60s psychedelia, Flying Lotus instrumental hip-hop and UK electro, the gooey, reverb-laced, nostalgia-laden songs and lo-fi MacBook Pro recording style features all the hallmarks of that already dated, instantly derided early 00s sub-genre: chillwave.
Melt doesn’t sound fractured because of a glut of geographical references but because of its pieced-together nature. A number of tracks previously released as singles (Sparkly, You With Air and Night In The Ocean) are instantly discernible from the other pieces, which drift by fuzzily, eschewing songwriting for vague atmospherics.
Top track: You With Air
