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One of 2004’s treat was Switzerland’s Magicrays third album ‘On the Shoreline’. It had more emotion and soul than a dozen Jeff Buckley records and songs so fragile that one would think that they would shatter if frontman Raphael sang a semitone higher. Anyway the guys have released a new EP and it shows another side of the band in many ways. The lead title is ‘Black’, one of the highlights off the album, it is Magicrays are their best. Melancholic, yet upliftingly so. This is also backed by ‘Nowhere Fast’, a rocker that soars over your head as it builds up. Now we enter uncharted territory. The third and fourth track are cover versions. One is “La Chanson Bleue’ by New Waver Stephan Eicher, which is totally different from the original, yet Magicrays make it sound like they wrote. he second remake is The Cure’s ‘Pictures of You’. No one has yet been able to spoil a Cure song and this is no exception. In fact, by stripping the song to its bare bones and keeping the melody, the true colours of the original come out - a simple pop song. The EP is rounded off by acoustic versions of ‘Black’ and ‘Where Shades Sparks’. To tell the truth, I think that the simpler the band’s arrangements are the more of their soul emerges. They come through as warmer and more approachable, and the emotion is still intact. Perhaps this could be a signpost to album number four? Who knows? Savour this and ask later!
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