Magic & Unique (The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers
Date:	12/11/05 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very original, some brilliant tracks, suits the majority of listeners.

Disadvantages: A few weak links, not very well known at all.

The Magic Numbers are a fairly recent addition to the music scene in comparison to some of the firmly established bands of our time. I’d never even heard of them until a couple of weeks ago when they appeared on one of the music channels so I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re sat thinking who the hell is she on about! Their first and only album was released in the UK back in June 2005 and has proved to be mildly popular. You may be familiar with their Top 20 single entitled Forever Lost or their second single Love Me Like You.

The group consists of four individuals who happen to be two separate sets of siblings. The first set is Trinidad born brother Romeo and sister Michele, both responsible for vocals and the former responsible for the majority of the song writing. The second set is London born brother Sean on drums and sister Angela on percussion. For once we’re spared the classic anorexic blonde females and the spikey haired males and instead find ourselves presented with four terribly normal looking individuals, almost eccentric in a sense and heavily country-fied.

Now to give you an idea of the genre of music they are associated with I’d say it’s heavily indie with a small mix of soft pop added in for good measure. They’ve been compared to modern day bands such as Kaiser Chiefs and The Doves while they prefer to say their inspiration comes from older role models such as Bob Dylan and Mamas & Papas. Their sound is certainly individual and is often reminiscent of the fifties and sixties music.

The album opens with Mornings Eleven which has a sharp base feel to it throughout which gives it an almost on edge feeling. The lyrics are surprisingly upbeat and rather carefree at the same time, “Call me if you’re on your own, and maybe I can meet you in the morning.” The mood of the song is rather odd, there’s no single meaning to this song, whereas the majority of songs focus on love/love hurts/new love, etc. this song is surprisingly empty of much meaning. Whether that’s a good thing or bad thing I’m still undecided but one thing is for sure, this group understand that sometimes less can in fact be more. Forever Lost is up next which is their only single released so far that has appeared in our charts. Once you hear it I’m sure you’ll recognise it, it’s strangely upbeat for a painful love song, “Don’t let the sun be the one to change you baby” is easily my favourite lyric from this song. It’s a fast paced hippy song with a very sixties country feel to it almost, yet the indie genre in present and reminds me of Razorlight or The Killers softer songs. On Amazon it was commented on that the song had “superb melodies” and was a worthwhile buy for any lover of music, a brilliant track in my opinion.

The Mule is the third song up on the album and again makes full use of the world of percussion that we have available to us. It’s quirky and almost has a cheeky feel to it, as if you could imagine the singer standing there with his head cocked and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth! Certainly firmly a love song, and a negative one at that, “Why don’t you look him in the eye? Ah you won’t see nothing at all.” Towards the middle the mood changes and goes rather solemn, a nice depressing song that still maintains a quick beat to it. Long Legs is next up and sounds completely different to the first three at the opening, it’s speedy and jumpy, almost like a modern rock song. It soon reverts back to the typical style of The Magic Numbers with some brilliant melodies in the vocals department and again is reminiscent of those happy hippy backing tracks.

Love Me Like You is one of my favourite tracks on the album and firmly resides within the indie/pop field. This is probably the other song you’ll recognise as this has also been released from the album, “She don’t love me like you, she don’t know what you do, and it’s all hard, she don’t care what you say, so just say it say it anyway it’s all hard.” Again it’s got a fast base underneath the lyrics which keeps the song progressing and some brilliant guitar playing also makes an appearance in this track. It’s original and almost a little bit eccentric too with a hippy feel to it again. The chorus is really catchy and I think you’ll find it hard not to start singing along!

Which Way To Happy changes the mood of the album somewhat with a slight Italian feel to it and it’s also much slower compared to the previous five songs. The vocals sounds completely different on this track as well, slightly surreal almost with very little backing music as the track progresses. “Why did I choose to refuse you, it’s not that I used you, I left when I should have, believe that I could have held on, but you never let go.” It’s not really one of the better tracks on the album as it is very sombre and slightly glum as well. It’s all sung at the same pitch really which makes it feel slightly monotone and almost turns it into a track I want to skip! I See You, You See Me is the seventh track on the album and again is reminiscent in slowness to the previous track. The whole mood and tone of the song is very much similar to something by Coldplay or David Gray yet even more bare in a sense. “It’s alright I never thought I’d fall in love again, It’s alright I look to you as my only friend.” It’s sung in the style of a duet between Romeo and Michele about their past relationship, slightly bizarre as they are siblings(!). I really love this song, it somehow manages to get inside your whole body, the chorus is really catchy once again and it’s a definite hit to the future.

Don’t Give Up The Fight reverts back to the faster sounding tracks at the start of the album and is also much more up tempo than the previous tracks. I really like the lyrics in this track “She turned and she said to me baby baby please, don’t give up this fight, I saw you dance tonight, baby please, don’t give up this fight.” It reminded me when I first heard it of something by Mamas & Papas and is another future hit for the group. This Love has a similar opening to the quieter tracks on the album, especially Which Way To Happy and reminded me of Damien Rice at some points during the song. There’s also backing music here in the form of a violin which make the song feel very melodic and classy in a sense too. It’s a very still and calming song, ideal for when you’re wanting to go to sleep! Wheels On Fire is probably my least liked song on the album. It’s very quiet, you have to adjust the volume to actually hear the lyrics and it’s also rather grave and sober once again but in a way that’s not at all captivating in my opinion.

Love Is A Game is another quirky and enchanting song which somehow finds a balance between the faster tracks and the slower ones on this album. “And maybe I’m a fool for walking in life, and maybe I should try to leave this time.” Once again there’s some great harmonies that appear throughout this track, the singers voices really do complement each other with Romeo’s being quite gravely almost and Michele’s being almost angelic like with a very sweet feel to it. The last track on the album is Try and is a massive seven minutes long which I think any band would find hard to pull off without just merely repeating themselves over and over again. It’s rather dull to be honest as are the majority of final songs on albums and not one that will really stick in your mind from this album.

So to sum it up I’d say on the whole it’s a fantastic album and one well worth buying. It consists of a mixture of country, hippy if there is such a type of music indie and pop. It’s highly original, very enchanting at times too and I’d say it’s worth a listen regardless of your music tastes. There are a few poorer tracks on the album but it’s hard to find one these days that is completely perfect, but in my opinion the good tracks certainly make up for this. It’s nice to finally find a band that doesn’t sound like about 10 others on the scene at the moment – purely unique!

You can buy this album for £8.99 on Amazon or Play and for £13.99 in HMV.

Summary: The debut album by new group The Magic Numbers.