Magana – Paul

Back in August we previewed Teeth, the forthcoming album from Magana to be released this March via Audio Antihero and Jeni Magaña’s own imprint Colored Pencils. “[Lead single] ‘Afraid of Everybody’ uses a careful hand and lush synths to weave one of her most searching songs to date,” as we wrote in the piece. “A subdued sound which rises intermittently to capture an introspective topography, coming to capture both vulnerability and strength as Magana shares her innermost fears.”

Teeth sees something of a change of direction for Magana. Having spent the last few years on tour playing bass for the likes of Mitski and Lady Lamb, and collaborating with Emily Moore as part of pop duo pen pin, the LA-based multi-instrumentalist began experimenting with new styles and genres in search of a newly forthright sound capable of charting the full complexities of contemporary life. A product of the conditions in which it was created, where the world revealed the full extent of its bleak and surreal character. “The world started to look strange to me, as if I was an alien plopped down in the middle of Los Angeles but with all these human feelings,” Magaña says. “I wanted this album to reflect that not only in the lyrics but in the soundscapes as well. I wanted it to sound like earth and space at the same time, so I arranged acoustic guitars, strings, and winds to weave in and out of synth lines and electric guitar solos.”

Today we have the pleasure of sharing latest single, ‘Paul’. A song where grief is transcribed almost verbatim, and tenderness, strangeness and plain disbelief can exist simultaneously. “Turns out all the stars were not enough to / Hold you to the earth, like gravity,” the song opens. “In my heart I know that it is not you / Lying on the floor like you’re asleep.” The direct nature of the lyrics are juxtaposed against a hushed, ungrounded arrangement, evoking the unreal or too-real experience of bereavement as though it was a lonely dream. But more than offering a picture of sadness, Magana metabolises grief into its constituent parts in order to show how love underpins its every feeling. “This song is for my friend, who dealt with death too early,” as Magana explains. “These are her words, and I processed them by turning them into a song.”

Paul, where did you go
When it was driving you insane
And I remember where I was when they first told me
You took those pills to kill your pain
Paul where did you go
With fentanyl in your cocaine
And I remember where I was when you first told me
I’m gonna marry you someday
I’m gonna marry you someday

Teeth is out on the 25th March via Audio Antihero and Colored Pencils and you can pre-order it now.