Magnetic Morning

Magnetic Morning

A.M.

[3.5/5]

The title of Magnetic Morning’s debut full-length is apt: A.M. is the perfect sonic accompaniment to that drowsy time just before sunrise, when the sky is pastel and the upcoming day brims with promise and optimism. In fact, the album feels like one long dream-pop blissout: Hazy guitars swirl and dip lazily like a streaked watercolor painting underneath Swervedriver leader Adam Franklin’s melancholy, crushed-velvet croon. Like any good side project, though, Magnetic Morning are greater than (and distinct from) the sum of its parts-the melodic ideas of Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino and Franklin’s lyrical and arrangement smarts. Layered vocals and elegant minor chords drive the psych-pop nugget “Spring Unseen,” while heartbroken piano and strings drift through the six-minute standout “And I Wonder.” The fantastic “Motorway”-an English translation of Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” on which choruses roar to life amid a hurricane of chaotic guitars-even resembles Swervedriver. Still, A.M. is very much a debut album; a few songs (“Come Back,” “Out In The Streets”) are so shapeless they dissolve into the ether. But what the album lacks in traditional structure, it more than makes up for in lovely atmospheres and plenty of sunburned cinematic flair. (FRIEND [OR FAUX]) Annie Zaleski

ROCKS LIKE:

Swervedriver’s Ejector Seat Reservation

Elbow’s Cast of Thousands

Doves’ The Last Broadcast

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