The Magic Numbers - Alias
Alias
The Magic Numbers
Tiger Rating: 9.5 / 10
Indie Rock
Maybe their biggest moment up til now was in 2002 when Richard Bacon infamously introduced them on Top Of The Pops as "a big fat melting pot of talent". For chubby siblings Romeo and Michelle Stodart and Angela and Sean Gannon this was an unveiled insult and they walked away and never performed, leaving an awkward gap in the live programming.
They may not have shed any weight or grudges, but they have moved far from their roots in many ways. 'Alias' is a near perfect showcase of how a band can mature and refine their sound without "selling out" or compromising their character.
Surprising though it is for anyone familiar with the band, the Stodart's and Gannons actually hail from Blighty. They may be English but their sound is the very definition of 70s rocky folk / country Americana. It always has been and is excessively so on 'Alias'. Hints of America (the band), The Eagles, and even The Carpenters are at the very surface here, both in terms of sound and song construction. 'Shot in the Dark', 'Roy Orbison', and 'Better Than Him' are all as subtle as they are catchy. These are no radio hits - at least not modern mainstream radio. 'Thought I Wasn't Ready' has all the moodiness of a Lana Del Rey track in it's opening stanzas, before the retro symphony strings bring it to a slight disco crescendo, leaving it more something that early Mama and the Papa's might have done. Even flashes of the Bee Gees appear here and there. 'E.N.D' is the sound of 1975, right around the time bands like Earth, Wind and Fire were breaking into the mainstream.
In this way, 'Alias' is almost a novelty. Many young listeners will not get any of the references or understand the inspirations. Without that insight, this could be quite an odd album. Every track has a hook and every hook grows on you more with each listen. Modern masterpiece this may not be. Subtle gem of a record it most certainly is and with every listen you hear something new. And if all you want is likable background noise, it provides that too.
I wouldn't say fat, but melting pot of talent - definitely.
WVS
They may not have shed any weight or grudges, but they have moved far from their roots in many ways. 'Alias' is a near perfect showcase of how a band can mature and refine their sound without "selling out" or compromising their character.
Surprising though it is for anyone familiar with the band, the Stodart's and Gannons actually hail from Blighty. They may be English but their sound is the very definition of 70s rocky folk / country Americana. It always has been and is excessively so on 'Alias'. Hints of America (the band), The Eagles, and even The Carpenters are at the very surface here, both in terms of sound and song construction. 'Shot in the Dark', 'Roy Orbison', and 'Better Than Him' are all as subtle as they are catchy. These are no radio hits - at least not modern mainstream radio. 'Thought I Wasn't Ready' has all the moodiness of a Lana Del Rey track in it's opening stanzas, before the retro symphony strings bring it to a slight disco crescendo, leaving it more something that early Mama and the Papa's might have done. Even flashes of the Bee Gees appear here and there. 'E.N.D' is the sound of 1975, right around the time bands like Earth, Wind and Fire were breaking into the mainstream.
In this way, 'Alias' is almost a novelty. Many young listeners will not get any of the references or understand the inspirations. Without that insight, this could be quite an odd album. Every track has a hook and every hook grows on you more with each listen. Modern masterpiece this may not be. Subtle gem of a record it most certainly is and with every listen you hear something new. And if all you want is likable background noise, it provides that too.
I wouldn't say fat, but melting pot of talent - definitely.
WVS
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