Name: Old Magick
Brand: Steven James Adams

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

fpop195cd

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2016-03-04

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cargo

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

5060044172649

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

fpop195lp

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2016-03-02

5060044172656

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1 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Steven James Adams

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Fortuna Pop

Indie powerhouse Fortuna Pop release 'Old Magick', the second solo album by Steven James Adams, former songwriter / singer / guitarist from the critically acclaimed Broken Family Band. 'Old Magick' is proof that Adams's gift for marrying exceptional lyrics with inescapable earworms is very much intact. With minimal instrumentation, 'Old Magick' is, in part, a reaction to Adam's first solo outing 'House Music' (2013), an album recorded in his living room and featuring an array of musical friends, including members of bands as disparate as pop-rockers The Vaccines and folk-idols Lau. This time around, he relocated to The Premises studios in Hackney with producer Dan Michaelson at the helm. With Michaelson also adding guitar and piano - lending his distinctive, pared-down style to many of the songs - and drums from Daniel Fordham (The Drink) the recording process was consciously self-contained. While the album title hints at Adams's interest in the dark arts, the lyrical content of 'Old Magick' covers a lot of ground. Opening track 'Togetherness' is a topical meditation on how our society treats people from other countries, set to a disarmingly pretty tune. On the upbeat 'Kings of The Back of The Bus', Adams contrasts the posturing of youth with the choices we make as we get older ("Now it's just massage music".) Elsewhere, desperation is in the air, as the deluded protagonist of 'Ideas' tries in vain to rescue a relationship gone wrong, a theme echoed by 'French Drop', an old conjuring term for a trick in which an object appears to disappear without having gone anywhere. The bad, sad trip of 'Sea of Words' pilfers the phrase "the news from nowhere" from William Morris, former resident of Walthamstow, Adams's adopted home, while 'The Golden Bough' is "a rock 'n roll song about neuroscience and the 'spiritual' choices people make in Western culture." 'Old Magick' sees Adams playing with new sounds and ideas but he has a message for fans of his earlier output: "I've still got the old magic" he says. "I also have some new magic. And some crap jokes". A genuine entertainer, a truly gifted songwriter, and perhaps the closest thing there is to a British Bill Callahan.LP - 180 Gram Vinyl with Download.

Old Magick

Music GB