Bearing in mind how joyfully brilliant the songs on Magic Kids' debut 7” 'Hey Boy' were, and how Superball off their recent split single with Smith Westerns almost reached the same heights, after hearing the first song off their LP I was getting ready to ring the editor to run the possibility of a perfect score by him.
All in all, they just fall short, as it’s not quite a flawless album. Indeed Magic Kids have a wide repertoire based around a pure pop template, from the orchestral to the sing-along, via an obligatory panty-peeler of a ballad. It’s just that, because the bulk of the songs have so many facets and ideas that a couple of others seem marginally weaker. Still, it’s a 100% listenable, happiness-inducing album all the way through. After the tracks that kick start side B, it is immaculate; the flow of the record throughout is perfect and conjures up all the feelings, from the wistful to the blissful, that accompany a meandering summer.
A friend of mine asked “is this the Beach Boys?” whilst I was playing it on repeat, and in a band with at least one member mega-obsessed with the intricacies of that band’s entire discography, I’m sure it’d be taken as a pure compliment. The art of sweeping, soaring songcraft has been studied, honed and used to full, impressive effect here.
My girlfriend said it sounded like the god awful American TV show 'Glee', which I’m less happy with, but I can sort of see her angle. The eleven songs here do have sweet vocal harmony choruses and the uplifting summer dream factor, true, but what sets them apart from 'Glee' is this: they aren’t total shit. The only bit that reminds me of TV at all is a distinctly Red Dwarf-esque turnaround in Sailin.
Finally, calling such a glorious, uplifting, celebratory record 'Memphis' was a master stroke, given the scene they have grown up with. Whereas Jay Reatard’s Lost Sounds declared 'Memphis Is Dead' ten years prior, Magic Kids seem to have breathed new life into it - or at least exposed it to some more optimism.
Comprising members of various Memphis bands whose common ground is their excellence - including Boston Chinks, Kazalok, Girls of the Gravitron and The Barbaras - Magic Kids have picked up where they left off. The Barbaras released one single, Summertime Road, that was a slice of pure Spector-in-overdrive joy. I wondered what they’d do next, and waited for an album. And waited. And waited. It never arrived, but luckily this record more than compensates for that, removing the fuzz and exposing polished pop perfection.