Band,
Singer of Rock, Pop, Folk and World
Yin yang Ana Laan (Rita Calypso) and Natalia Ferrán (Bathing Beauty) team up together as The Magic Whispers. They can be easily described as the real darlings of pop. Here Laan's dark, sensual, smoky vocals deliver more than just lovely notes (i.e. Rita Calypso) whereas Farran’s vocal fit well with the candlelight, subtler, delirious and hermetic tracks. Their terrific pedigree is enhanced here with the talents of producers Ramón Leal (=nice arrangements) and Mateo Guiscafré, who has wisely chosen a great set of songs, drawing from the likes of Po!, Girls at our best, Devine & Statton, Magnetic Fields, Ruth’s refrigerator, The Impossibles, Jenifer Jackson or Pacific, and paying tribute over the course of an entire album devoted to the missed girl-pop duos from another era. The Magic Whispers convey an attitude and inject disparate musical styles- art school pop, introspective folk, baroque easy listening, indie pop, Scottish pop, punk- into a fundamentally pop mold. There's a hint of irony, romantic lyricism, a bit of detachment, but most of all an underlying strength and self-assurance that brings new depths to the possibilities of pop duos. The tracks are carefully sequenced to chart a fractured tale about the desire for freedom, for authenticity. The Magic Whispers have an ethic that values personal and spiritual freedom above money. Conceived as an Anglo-american duo they have started their own chase towards a classic of pastoral pop that- mixes acoustic instrumentation with great and individual vocals. The overall sound is an audacious kind of richly textured, enigmatic guitar pop with an edge that magnifies instead of blurring the songs' strong emotional content.. There are whispering pop hits and the misty, lunatic, magic ones. (minimal, quiet songs of love and friendship, found and lost) . Yin and Yang has plenty of energy and lush melancholy a go go (check the squeaky clean and crisp vocals). What is Yin and What is Yang? Yin & Yang, Ana & Natalia are so entwined that one cannot exist without the other. They are irrevocably two parts of a whole. The basic properties of heat, brightness, activeness, outwardness, upwardness, hyper function belong to Yang (Natalia). The basic properties of coldness, darkness, stillness, inwardness, downwardness, hypo function belong to Yin (Ana). As long as Yin and Yang maintain their dynamic oscillating balance the life exists. This is the secret of this record. As you all may know the original meaning of Yin-Yang was the bright side (Yang) versus the dark side (Yin). Everything in the world can be described, explained and further divided into the Yin-Yang phenomena. Yin and yang oppose each other and at the same time have an interdependent relationship. Without Yang there is no Yin, without Yin there is no Yang. Is it clear now? The eighties were a good decade to be a teenager. We had the Young Marble Giants, The Dolly Mixture, Bad Dream Fancy Dress,Strawberry Switchblade, Girls at our best….There was a weird amalgam of styles and statures. But the nineties also offered beautiful balladeering mementoes you ought to treasure forever. Yin and Yang exposes songs that are full of small details rather than grandiose statements. There are breathy and seductive lullabies and dream pop, understated arrangements and charming vocals and bells and whistles and crispy guitars….To keep it simple you can imagine the MWs as the re-incarnation of Carousel, Popinjays, Marine Girls, The Would-be-goods or The Impossibles. Time for incense and peppermint.
Ana Laan voc *1967 ES |
Title | Artist | Year | Type |
---|---|---|---|
Carousels & Music Boxes | The Magic Whispers | 2007 | Album |
Yin Yang | The Magic Whispers | 2003 | Album |