Synth pop rock duo Magnetic Skies made a pretty decent first impression with ‘Dreams and Memories’ EP around a year ago. With shows supporting Altered Images on their upcoming schedule, it would appear I wasn’t alone in hearing the potential, and the follow-up finds them expanding on the territory marked out there.
The title track is first up, and is a crisp, clean and smoothly-produced slice of synth-driven pop with a strong forward trajectory. It’s a slick groove mined from a seam of 80s influence, with currents if introspective reflection running through its dreamy atmosphere.
Whereas ‘Dreams and Memories’ hinted as ‘Disintegration’ era Cure, the dolorous and gloomy six-and-a-half minute ‘Empires Fall’ takes its cues from ‘All Cats are Grey’. The mood lightens with a lively rendition of Bowie’s ‘Ashes to Ashes’: it’s not outstandingly memorable in that it brings little to what is a fundamentally faithful cover, but it’s well executed, and the instrumentation works well.
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The final song, ‘Give Me Back that Moment’ returns to wistful melancholia spun over a slow, nagging beat and gothy guitars which drape themselves over a strolling bass and subdued synths.
It mightn’t be a radical departure, but ‘Into Paradise’ is certainly a progression, and a confident work that capitalises on the potential of their previous releases.
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