magic wands – magic, love & dreams

October 3rd, 2009 | by jason grishkoff | published in female vocalists, indie pop, indie rock, shoegaze

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sounds like: xx, metric, post war years

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What’s so good?
long distance relationships don’t often work that well, and there was no exception for the duo of magic wands. chris and dexy valentine (aliases) began collaborating after meeting through the myspace music network. it didn’t take long, however, for dexy to pick up and move from los angeles to nashville. the result of her decision was this ep, magic, love & dreams, four tracks of shoegaze-indie pop that will either bring your hands together in a clap or have you switching cds.

It’s possible, of course, that Magic Wands’ specific brand of pop-rock could begin to grow tired on a full-length release. But the 12-minute-long Magic Love & Dreams EP doesn’t even begin to wear thin. The whole EP is covered with the cosmic haze of dream-pop, while the Valentines maintain the attitude of punk kids. They casually mouth off lyrics like, “Our love is blue/ Our hearts are blue/ All love is blue/ It’s true,” in “Teenage Love,” which could have exposed Magic Wands as having a stunning lack of self-awareness, but actually the opposite is true – prefix magazine