From This View is the third long playing helping of dreampop from Magic Seas, featuring Chelmsford brothers James and John Prudence. It follows last year’s album Everything Has Led Me To Here.
From This View’s chiming guitars and washes of shimmering keyboards offer nine cuts of soaring soundscapes for the Magic Seas’ tales of solitude and sorrow.
Ride’s Mark Gardener at the helm
As with its predecessors, From This View has been produced by Mark Gardner of Ride, with whom Magic Seas share some of their mellower musical DNA moments. Check out the album’s lead single here:
Among the highlights are the title track with its driving drumbeats. ‘Different Ways’ adds harmonica to the mix giving the song a twist of Bob Dylan’s wild mercury sound. ‘Strings And Time’ offers a more acoustic sound to the proceedings to give it a more grounded folky flavour.
‘The Happiness Key’ sails this album off into the sunset with a hypnotic motif. It brings to mind Spacemen 3 during their Perfect Prescription era or Slowdive’s first phase.
The duo offer listeners another dreamy half hour of their sonic bliss.
Fraser McKay
Final thoughts
From This View, out 5 May on Lemonpop/regular streaming services, may hark back at times to some of the shoegazing greats but the Prudence brothers have added their own identity. As a result, the duo offer listeners another dreamy half hour of their sonic bliss to bring some welcome relief in an ocean of often mediocre alternative music.
Fraser McKay
Fraser has been writing about music for more than 30 years. First with his own fanzine Eye Sore You and then for several local newspapers across the UK. In that time, he interviewed Spiritualized, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Wedding Present, Ian Dury, Julian Cope, Belly, and The Primitives, as well as writing various album review columns.
Unfortunately none of his content is live anymore due to newspapers seemingly wiping the archives whenever they got sold.
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[…] The Wedding Present, Ian Dury, Julian Cope, Belly, and The Primitives, as well as writing various album review columns. Unfortunately, none of his content is live anymore due to newspapers seemingly wiping the […]