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ARMS is TG, Matty, Tlacael, and Dave. Our new album, Summer Skills, is out now.

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Collector - Here We Go Magic

Here We Go Magic - Collector

                     

Here We Go Magic - “Collector” (from Pigeons, out soonish)

I have been keeping an eye on Luke Temple for a long time now. I first realized how special this fellow was at one of the storied “Apartment Parties” at Michael Leviton’s apartment in Brooklyn, which must have been in the summer of 2006. At these parties, all of the young, excited musician-types got together and drank, smoked cigarettes in the kitchen, and played songs for each other, open-mic-style. It was a pretty magical moment - I was lucky enough to see transcendent, incredibly intimate performances from Shilpa Ray, Forest Fire, Elliot Krimsy / Glass Ghost, Leah Hayes, Ching Chong Song, Creaky Boards, and others. (It was the closest thing to a “scene” i’d ever experienced - rare in these fractured musical times.) Luke Temple played alone, and it was one of the most moving performances I’ve ever seen. His talent comes from a much older tradition - a high, lonesome voice, deep charisma, thoughtful, artful songwriting skills. Stuff that never wears out its welcome, free of gimmick or novelty. I was floored.

(Incredible, but I just found that exact performance I was talking about on YouTube. I can’t believe the age we live in. Watch it here and here.)

Here We Go Magic, to my ears, is the sound of Luke finally hitting on a project that conveys the full breadth of his talent. It isn’t easy out there for a “singer-songwriter”, and Luke wasn’t getting much attention under his own name (undeservedly, but what you gonna do). Here We Go Magic make misty, deceptively simple-sounding pop music with a little bit of Kraut, a little bit of folk, and tasteful use of weird keyboards and an incredible internal complexity that reveals itself after repeat listens.

I’d post the whole album if it were legal, but i can’t, so i won’t. Just know that Here We Go Magic make the kind of music that sticks. It is, as they say, “the real shit.”

65 Plays

Notes

  1. pastaprima reblogged this from armsongs
  2. tlaclol reblogged this from armsongs and added:
    overlapping 8th-note guitar patterns. Gives...evokes straightforward strummed guitar...
  3. armsongs posted this

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