Magic Castles release new single ‘Mary Anne’, the second to be lifted from their incoming album ‘Realized’. Due out April 24th on Fuzz Club, ‘Realized’ is a set of lush psych-rock reveries from Minneapolis songwriter Jason Edmonds, blending late-60s folk-rock warmth with shoegaze shimmer.
Consisting of nine dreamlike, melody-led trips that unfold in waves, ‘Realized’ is equal parts hazy nostalgia and widescreen modern psychedelia, centring dreamy, heavily-layered arrangements and floating vocal harmonies. Following recent lead single ‘Abandoned Mansions’, ‘Mary Anne’ is the latest taste of what’s to come. The band’s Jason Edmonds says of the track:
“This one was recorded at Pachyderm Studio (the legendary rural Minnesota studio where Nirvana recorded In Utero) with the Magic Castles band. It’s myself and Izaak on guitars, Kristof on bass and Adam drumming. It’s a catchy pop song with this dreamy push-and-pull energy. Tight and rocking, melodic and upbeat, but with a streak of melancholy running through it. Not quite shoegaze… but it lives in that atmosphere, with some call and response type backing vocals for fans of Television thrown in. The Mary Anne in question is someone maybe struggling with communication breakdowns and the weight of the world, but she’s strong, resourceful, and ultimately ready to kick ass.”
Magic Castles was formed in Minneapolis MN in the early 2000s by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jason Edmonds. Their debut album ‘Lore of Mysticore’ caught the ear of Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, culminating in four albums released on Newcombe’s label ‘A’ Recordings Ltd over 2012-22 – including, most recently, 2021’s ‘Sun Reign’ (a song from which would feature on an episode of the hit HBO series Succession). After a headline tour of Europe in 2023, Jason returned to Minneapolis and steadily finished piecing together ‘Realized’ – the band’s fifth-full length, now ready to see the light of the day on their new label home Fuzz Club.
Edmonds and the rest of the current Magic Castles line-up (consisting of Adam Patterson on drums, Izaak Drew on guitar and Kristof Marden on bass) recorded the tracks with Nick Tveitbakk at the legendary Pachyderm Studios in Minnesota, with additional recording by Edmonds at his studio the Map Room and in Neil Weir’s remote chapel-converted-to-studio, Blue Bell Knoll, where Edmonds and Weir would loving co-mix the end result. The result takes Magic Castles’ music to a newfound level of clarity, whilst still retaining that same, long-harboured analogue warmth only made possible through an array of vintage amps, guitars and transistor organs.
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