The Magic City Trio – Amerikana Arkana

Lee Hazlewood meets Ennio Morricone in a South London boozer! Debut LP of cosmic country noir + special album launch show!

It's nearly three years since The Magic City Trio released their first EP - A Funnel Cloud In Albuquerque, but now the band are set to release a full length LP. Amerikana Arkana sees the band flesh out their old-timey ballads with lush widescreen orchestration, giving a more contemporary cosmic cowboy feel. It draws on the work of both Ennio Morricone and Lee Hazlewood, with lyrical inspiration coming from contemporary news stories, the modern hillbilly noir of author Daniel Woodrell, as well as from the shadowy recesses of their own imaginations.

Now technically a quartet due to the addition of drummer Charlotte Burke, The Magic City Trio's sound is fully realised, having gelled as a band over the three intervening years via regular gigging, while at the same time stockpiling the songs that make this debut long-player such a richly rewarding collection. The sonic inspiration may come from across the Atlantic and across the decades but Amerikana Arkana is realised with a definite contemporary metropolitan filter. The music may conjure up images of prairies and parched dustbowls but they're dowsed with fat splodges of London rain.

With songs of tornadoes, murder, depression (both personal and economic), Amerikana Arkana heads into dark territory yet is paradoxically more playful, the murky subject matter offset by delightful musical touches throughout. With the addition of the afore-mentioned spaghetti western strings, tasteful 'n' twangy fuzz guitar, some sumptuous pedal steel and a touch of mariachi brass and the result is a welcome and accomplished example of London's growing cosmic country scene.

The album will be available as a CD and also as a deluxe vinyl LP which comes with an accompanying CD and book.

** ALBUM LAUNCH SHOW - 24TH MARCH - AN EXPANDED TEN-PIECE BAND WILL PERFORM AT THE DUKE PUB, 125 CREEK ROAD, DEPTFORD, LONDON SE8 3BU. SEE THE BAND'S FACEBOOK PAGE FOR MORE DETAILS**

 

 

The Magic City Trio are -

Frank Sweeney (guitar, vocals, violin)

Annie Holder (guitar, vocal, autoharp)

Adi Staempfli (bass, vocals)

Charlotte Burke (drums, percussion)

Guest musicians include -

Johnny Butten (banjo)

Eddy Dunlap (pedal steel)

Click here for the band's website.

Click here for The Magic City Trio on Facebook.
Click here for The Magic City Trio on Twitter.