Magic In Threes

The 2011 debut album from Tennessee group Magic In Threes is a collection of retro-funk, soul and jazz-adjacent instrumentals with a cinematic feel and slight psychedelic flavour. Made up of players from influential label G.E.D. Soul Records, Magic in Threes’ sound palette is all live — horns, guitars, bass, drums, organs, keys with occasional period synths — and the vibe is sophisticated, melodic, moody, occasionally mystical soul instrumentals. They take parts of R’n’B history, be it chase-scene wah-wah licks, a growling Hammond a la peak-Stax, or tricks from Fred Wesley’s book of arranging, and assemble them all into distinctive, thematic, musical cross-pollinations. The mood is almost exclusively laid back but swinging, reflecting the more introspective and smooth end of mid-70s soul and funk. A pleasure from start to finish.