The Magic Lotus - 'Let Music' Single Review

I had this friend when I was younger, let’s call him Michael, because he needs a name and this is just a made-up story that I’m using as an analogy for my review, so it really doesn’t matter. We liked the same bands, wore the same sorts of clothes, and were into the same sorts of things. One summer holiday, Michael went away for a couple of weeks with his parents, and I was left moping around the house, listening to music and waiting for his return. But when he came back, he was different. He’d cut his scruffy long hair, had ditched his band t-shirts in favour of designer shirts, and had started talking about Garage DJs that I’d never heard of.

Fast forward 20 years, and I’m feeling the same way again (only this time, it’s not made up) I really liked The Magic Lotus’ ‘Feel Your Love’- it’s a great Garage Rock record, dripping with Grunge influences, and delivered with a real punch; ‘Let Music’ is different. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very smartly put together single, and perfectly competent, it’s just different. If ‘Feel Your Love’ might not have sounded out of place on a playlist between Nirvana and Radiohead, ‘Let Music’ would sit more comfortably alongside the likes of Everything Everything. And there’s nothing wrong with that, it just kind of caught me off guard, that’s all.

‘Let Music’ kicks off with a chirpy guitar lick and two-part vocal forming the verse, before launching into the chorus where the vocal is quite high in the mix, subduing the guitar. I think, if I have a problem with this record, it’s that it sounds like it’s been too well produced- great Garage Rock, for me, is all about the simplicity and the raw edge, and this has been all but polished away in the production of ‘Let Music’. I liked it well enough, but it didn’t “blow my mind away” as the chorus suggests, which was a shame.