Artist: Magic Numbers, The
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2006
Some say the second album is the hardest to make. Especially if the first one was a big hit, which was definitely the case for The Magic Numbers. Well, they’re back, and Those the Brokes, to be honest, doesn’t sound like a problematic second album at all. Quite the opposite: it sounds like it came together without any trouble, pretty quickly, and since it feels like a straight continuation of the self-titled debut, you could say it didn’t take much effort either.
What sounded pleasantly distant and dreamy on the last album sounds pretty much the same here. And the things that didn’t quite “click” before, sadly still don’t. It’s not all doom and gloom, though. They’ve definitely managed to keep a certain charm here too, but you can’t really feel any real progress, or maybe the expectations were just too high. The music stays optimistic, loyally anchored in a mid-tempo or mid-slow groove and a mid-range sound that never rattles or unsettles anyone. And it’s probably in songs like these that they work best: wonderfully carefree and downright childlike in their playfulness. Some choruses sound so familiar you’d swear you’d heard them before, but where exactly?
Taken as a whole, it’s a pretty crowd-pleasing concept, and their instruments, with the melodica standing out most and the compulsory harmony vocals, plus the string section, expanded this time, only confirm it. Still, it’s not exactly easy to get through the whole album, which runs a good hour. It works better in small doses, a handful of songs at a time, because otherwise the tracks sound too alike and sometimes run a bit long. A six-minute song in pop takes a lot of saying and showing to keep the tension and appeal going, and they don’t really pull that off, yet three songs go well past the six-minute mark.
Maybe for now it’s enough that they know how to please, and for a possible third album it won’t take much if they happen to want some small sonic changes, because there are none here. And they’ll have a hard time truly winning people over with yet another record like this.
So it really is just a continuation of what’s already been said, but some things, maybe, sometimes need to be said twice.
Lineup
Romeo Stodart: Guitar, piano and vocals
Michele Stodart: Bass guitar, keyboards, guitar, percussion and vocals
Angela Gannon: Melodica, percussion, keyboards and vocals
Sean Gannon: Drums
Guest musicians:
Robert Kirby: String arrangements and conducting (#5 and #9)
Julia Singleton: Violin (first)
Calina de la Mare: Violin
Gini Ball: Violin
Brian Wright: Violin
Michael Keelan: Viola
Claire Orsler: Viola
Dinah Beamish: Cello
Rory MacFarlane: Double bass
Brass section: Daniel Carpenter, Barnaby Dickinson, Jamie Anderson (#6)
Angharad Davies: Violin (#14)
Rhodi Davies: Harp (#14)
Production
Romeo and Michele Stodart
Track List
01. This is a Song
02. You Never Had It
03. Take A Chance
04. Carl’s Song
05. Boy
06. Undecided
07. Slow Down (The Way It Goes)
08. Most Of The Time
09. Take Me Or Leave Me
10. Let Somebody In
11. Runnin’ Out
12. All I See
13. Goodnight
Album Length: 64:32
