Portsmouth darkwave synthpop outfit Magnetic Skies return to The Victoria in the heart of Birmingham almost seven months to the day that they last graced this venue a couple of days before their wonderful sophomore album `Fragments` was released.
The dreamy instrumental `No End` is pumped through the p.a. as Simon Kent (vocals), Jo Womar (keyboards, vocals) and Lenin Alegria (drums) arrive on stage and head straight into the anthemic `A Place on Earth` from their last album `Fragments`. A song that I read captures that feeling of dislocation in a world of endless noise and digital static, about searching for a quiet space to just exist and was inspired by David Bowie`s `Fashion`.
We head back to the band`s debut album `Empire Falling` for `Suffocate` and `Not A Fire` with its captivating chorus line of “I`m not wasting my time, I can`t wait in line, here`s comes love not a fire” which really expresses a desire or yearning for that certain someone.
`Closing in` is the new single which reflects the pressure and claustrophobia of forces we often can’t name but feel all around us while the slow burn `Your Shadow` explores emotional absence and the difficulty of reaching across distance and always reminds me of early Gary Numan era Tubeway Army, which for me is not bad thing.
`She Calls Me On` has an aching intensity before we head back in time with `Magnetic Skies` which aches with reminiscence and recollection with this intense audience clapping along towards the end.
There`s two of my favourite tracks shared with `Into Paradise` with its soaring synths, a love song possibly but is really left for you to make up your own mind and the dreamy `Everything’s Alright`.
We have a taste of the bands forthcoming third album with a new track `Fall Down` which has a delightful rhythmic brooding intensity. `The Light in You` is wonderfully cinematic before `Fading Lights` takes us on a journey of sorts and the expansive `Back to life`, a response to a world where we’re more digitally connected than ever yet feel increasingly isolated and fragmented brings this superb show to a close.
Simon asks if we`d like another and we enjoy `Can You Feel The World?` as a kind of encore, a deep and thoughtful offering which asks whether we’ve become too disconnected, from nature, from each other, from meaning itself.
This was my second time catching this captivating and engaging trio and I maybe appreciated it more this time as there`s a familiarity with the songs and I know what to expect and what they can deliver live.
In the words of frontman Simon Kent, this is a kind of electronica music that “lives in the space between nostalgia and imagination. It reflects how artists decades ago envisioned the future, and how that vision compares to the world we actually live in today.” The band have put in the hard yards supporting acts like Heaven 17, Altered Images, ACTORS and Then Jerico and although I enjoy them being my guilty pleasure or secret, I really hope that soon I can relate that I saw them in a smaller venue as they take the stage in a larger arena sized setting.
Tonight`s hour plus show was as usual atmospheric, powerful, and superbly mesmerising musically with Simon`s varied vocal range and quirky dancing while Jo and Lenin are the real powerhouse or engine room which allows him free reign. Simon`s lyrics offer up some existential or philosophical questions which will leave you with plenty of food for thought. Hopefully, wider recognition is just around the corner for Magnetic Skies but in the meantime there`s another four dates left on this brief intimate UK tour, so don`t miss out!!
