No Excess Is Absurd

Magic Hour formed out of unfortunate circumstance: Wayne Rogers and Kate Village of Crystalized Movements had parted ways with their rhythm section; Naomi Yang and Damon Krukowski, bass player and drummer for Galaxie 500, had split with that group’s guitarist and singer, Dean Wareham, effectively calling time on their trio. It’s to both parties’ credit that Magic Hour’s debut album doesn’t sound like a retread of their former outfits. There are trace elements of Crystalized Movements, sure – the buzzing, raucous drone of Rogers’ and Village’s guitars; Rogers’ explosive soloing – but Krukowski and Yang meter things with some of the most impressively one-mind, hypnotic playing since Can folded. When the songs embrace melody, they do in a drowsy, limp-lidded way, which is quite seductive; when they stretch out and extemporise, they carve monoliths out of expanded time.