Magic! - Primary Colours

Magic!
Primary Colours
2016
Spotify

Primary Colours was always going to be an uphill battle for Magic! after the smash hit that they had with "Rude". It got them festivals, pool parties and for a time there they were all the rage. Their mix of Reggae and indie made them a perfect fit for the college set, but also positioned them for failure. The thing that really comes across on this record is that Magic! perhaps aren't aware of what a fluke "Rude" was because each track is damn near exactly the same as the hit. Take Bob Marley, add some Police and sprinkle in a healthy does of ToTo and you have these Canadians doing their best imitation of each. "Gloria" is 100% a Police rip off in one of the absolute worst ways, they even say "Red Red Wine" at one point during the song! Each new track you realize that perhaps Magic! don't understand what they are doing here, perhaps they actually think this music is new, refreshing or interesting but it really is none of those. Each one of these tracks already exists somewhere in the world and it was done better by someone else. You arrive at this point where you simply can't figure out if they are fucking with you, or if they really think they are revolutionizing Reggae music. It's almost preposterous.

Most of the cringeworthy stuff however comes from the lyrics rather than the actual music. All of Magic! are pretty well accomplished studio musicians, and came together by happenstance (or Magic! if you will) so they do have skills. The sound is light and fun, and with songs like "No Regrets" you can tell there is a pull away from the Reggae sound, but they can't fully commit. This album really feels like a pop record done just to appease someone in a suit rather than a true indication of where the band currently is at. But then it just sits as this kinda shitty blip on their career, or perhaps this really is them. This is one of those records where you just could have predicted something terrible despite the best efforts of the band to get in front of it and try and take a "it's just fun" attitude. But the fact remains that this record simply is not good and doesn't have any of that same "magic" that "Rude" had. We are lucky that they spare us by making this album on 35 minutes long. You can go back and take a listen to "Rude" if you are so inclined, but Primary Colours is a hard skip.

2.0 out of 10