Magic Potion float in fuzz on new single "Shock Proof"

"Hand to mouth, a jaw full of gum" are the words that introduce you to "Shock Proof", the second single to be released from the band's upcoming follow-up to Pink Gum (an earlier shot, "Rest Yr Skull", came out late last year). Endless Graffiti is arriving in October, and "Shock Proof" prepares the ground for it with a piece of vintage Magic Potion scuzz-pop.



There's a gloopy, sticky sweetness to it (hey, like gum! It all comes together), as bright and sparky guitar lines stretch lackadaisically around Gustaf Montelius' vocal. Sometimes, it sounds like a song struggling to get out of bed, but that's part of Magic Potion's charm. Those half-scratched melodies and rough and raw guitars are easy friends to live with. Listen above, and check out what the band have to say about it and the upcoming album below.

BEST FIT: "Shock Proof" sounds like a classic Magic Potion song, even down to the gum reference in the first line. How does it represent the sound of the rest of the album?

MAGIC POTION: "Being an early song on the album and the first single to be released, we thought it would be fun to make some kind of reference to Pink Gum. Like a little segue of sorts. Instrumentally and soundwise, 'Shock Proof' is a good representation of the album. When it comes to songwriting and song structure we’d like to think that each song on the album has its own character, or at least that’s how we approached them."

It’s been two years since Pink Gum, how long have you been working on this album?

"After releasing Pink Gum, we were left with some ideas for a second album but didn’t want to rush anything. So we took some 'recreational time' before starting to record, and focused on getting the right energy in the rehearsal space to start bringing in new ideas and getting the songs together. We also took some time to try out a couple of different studios before deciding to do everything ourselves except the recording of the drums. Also, at this point it’s not like we can afford to do this full-time. We’re still a semi-professional band in the midst of establishing ourselves on the global market of rock’n’roll entertainment."

How do you feel your sound has developed on this new record?

"This record was more of a challenge naturally as we didn’t want to repeat ourselves from the last album, while keeping the fun and not overthinking everything. In the end, we’d like to think of this album as a more confident body of work, as we’ve gotten to know each other a bit more musically. The fact that we toured with many of the songs in their early stages probably influenced the songwriting process and attributed to a somewhat different feel in the recording performances."

You’ve described the title, Endless Graffiti, as a metaphor for the spectacle of modern society. What exactly do you mean by that?

"Throughout, the album pretty much lyrically explores the dichotomy of the individual and the collective, where the collective activity of playing music together in a band can be a nice way of snapping out of this state, this massive flow of information and constant need to amuse ourselves - that seems to be a product of the commodification of essentially everything - that sometimes can be hard to get a perspective on. Guy Debord called it 'the spectacle' in the sixties, and another way of putting it could be the image of modern society overflowing with endless 'graffiti' - thus, the title."