The Magnapinna’s This Is No Wave EP is out now.
Hailing from Cork in Ireland, The Magnapinna are the rarest of beasts. A group that manage to combine humour, metal, and awesomeness. Plus, they make it seem so easy. Plying a kind of alternative metal/rock that calls to mind the likes of Faith No More and QOTSA, the outfit are seductively unhinged. Like a bear that’s gotten into the honey.
They helped us get to grips with their awesome EP, This Is No Wave.
This Is No Wave
The five songs on this EP are a mix of the third and fourth wave of The Magnapinna’s music. We wrote some songs very early on and others were a work in progress right up to when we hit record. We headed out to West Cork with Pavol
The title of the release came from our early desires to create something fresh and exciting. We had no interest in any specific genre or musical direction; we just wanted to write songs that were fun to perform. The term “No Wave” is what we use to describe this result. We had the working title of “Selfie”, and as much as that describes the overall listening experience we were trying to emulate, a vain fleeting moment in time, “This Is No Wave” seemed more of a statement of intent. There’s a false perception out there that we’re predominantly a silly bunch, but even a cursory listen to this release will show that we have a creative manifesto that is without compromise.
“Surf’s Up Baby”
Surf’s Up could be considered the veteran song of the EP having
“Another Pop Song”
This riff was introduced as “there’s no fucking way we can use this”, but we said “to hell with that” and just ran with it. It’s the most generic 90’s chord trio we could muster. We played versions of it live and it always went down a treat, so we developed it into something we could stand by. It’s an observation on the shallow world of Tinder and Grindr dating. Much like the song, it’s a poor imitation of the real-life experience that will leave you empty and without the necessary skills to have a conversation with a member of any sex. It’s a populist musing, but a relevant one. “Reading the menu on your own again? / What’s happened to all your friends?”.
“Neurosis Jackson”
Anytime you hear an 80’s Michael Jackson tune on the radio, your tail starts to shake mere moments before the stark reality behind the artist’s existence screams at you from a place of trial by media, untold truths and broken dreams. When we were listening back to this in the studio, the click track was in perfect tune with the riff, so James played a replica of the click on guitar and we left it in. In between all the handclaps and boogie, there’s that middle section where it all crashes into a neurotic and nihilistic introspective about the decay and collapse of society thanks to the ravages of social media. It’s where the EP starts to bridge towards more a more uncomfortable and experimental space for the
“Cowboy Disco”
This is definitely a band favourite for playing live, and probably the most dynamic track on the EP. The first three songs were written drop tuned to C#. With the remaining two songs, we dropped the E string further to G#, giving a tuning of G# G# C# F# A# and D#. Cowboy Disco fits into this tuning like a fresh leather cowboy boot to a
“Black Summer Days”
I always wondered what would happen if the likes of The
This song was written for a Hollywood ROM com. Brad and Stacy are in the park, Stacy dumps Brad and both have the same realization that all life, endeavour, actions, emotions be they negative or positive are meaningless and “All is Dust”. We await Chuck Lorre’s phone call with bated breath.
Find The Magnapinna on Facebook.