Listen: Gross Magic – We’re Awake Tonight

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Stomping in like a beautiful and androgynous, snarky teenager, who insists that ELO is cool, ‘We’re Awake Tonight’, from Brighton’s Gross Magic is an infectious blurry pop gem. Sam McGarrigle, the man behind the moniker, is releasing EP Teen Jamz, from which ‘We’re Awake Tonight’ is taken, on August 8, and it is available to pre-order now via The Sounds of Sweet Nothing Bandcamp page.

With the static-y alchemy of Ariel Pink, ‘We’re Awake Tonight’ sounds incredibly (perhaps infuriatingly) accomplished – like the aural equivalent of someone doing a massively impressive yo-yo trick, whilst blowing a hubba bubba bubble, whilst maintaining an overwhelming aura of ‘Meh’. It’s perfect pop for people who pride themselves on looking artfully disheveled, it’s acing a test after not opening the book. It’s goddamn brilliant.

Every element – from the falsetto vocals, which are spat out like cherry pips, to that infectious ‘Mr Blue Sky’ beat – feels ingenious, and it’s all packaged in a vintage fuzz that keeps it from sounding to polished or contrived. It is of course, not the result of some fortuitous accident, McGarrigle pays respects to a bewildering array of artists, building something unique from the bits he likes, resulting in something like theatrical grunge pop.
Gross Magic – We’re Awake Tonight by TheSoundsOfSweetNothing