Magic Fig's mystical, mystery tour

The enchanted pop art exhibitions of San Francisco’s Magic Fig; photographed by Michael Cruz.

The San Francisco / Bay Area movements are back and bigger than ever — as if they ever left. It feels like almost daily a revered figure returns, as seasoned vets keep the creative light shining, meanwhile someone from the new school gentry launches a solo endeavor, as the platforms continue to evolve (as the vestiges of some physical media holdouts still remain while the current trends occupy the ephemeral and nebulous void of the clouds and decentralized points of origin). And as the technological and pop cultural fashions turn like a carousel of seasons, Magic Fig materializes with their self-titled from Silver Current Records.

From the creatives behind favorites such as Almond Joy, Healing Potpourri, The Umbrellas, Whitney’s Playland, and more — Inna Showalter, Jon Chaney, Matthew Ferrara, Taylor Giffin, and Muzzy Moskowitz deliver a sun punch psych dose of pure luminescent solar beams. Levitating at the corner of tranquility and transcendent, Magic Fig journeys into the celestial places of the spirit. Completed with production and engineering supplied by Once and Future Band’s Joel Robinow, along with Paul Korte, and Tim Green — the Magic Fig self-titled sets sail along the cosmic and crystal glass glimmering seas.

Magic Fig brings you to the pastoral meadows and waterside worlds of restorative enchantment. "Goodbye Suzy" grazes with a heady glee and hazy grace through the garage and trad troubadours from the collected canons of the previous century, to time immemorial. The modern classic sensibility gets even groovier on "PS1" that echoes like a freak out / be-in session that go-gos through the decades before arriving at the present with a morning glory blaze of an intricately arranged spell of pop symphony psych. "Labyrinth" gallivants through the sharp curious corners of overgrown hedges and castle walls like a band of courageous warriors pursuing a mythic half-human, half-bull creature that lords over a network of foreboding, connecting corridors.

The fantastical quality that Magic Fig possesses drifts further up into the stratosphere on "Distant Dream" that ascends into the great unknown where all other visions and hope dwell above in the dimensions beyond the beyond. "Obliteration" takes the audience on the trip to where all matter explodes into a constellation of electric particles of energy. Inna and everyone bring it all together with the sincerely strummed "Departure" that leaves you with a pagan postlude benediction in communion with all things natural and beautiful.

Join Magic Fig after the jump for their collection of current favorites.

Magic Fig presents a pop faire of favorites

Magical, mystical, musical mages of pop — Magic Fig; press photo courtesy of Morgan Alice.

Triadisches Ballett von Oskar Schlemmer, “Bauhaus”

Schlemmer was a German painter, sculptor, and designer, who was part of the Bauhaus during the early twenieth century. His work often consists of simple geometric, robot-like figures in bold mostly primary colors. I love this video of his Triadisches Ballett (here recreated for TV with new music many years after his death). We projected this during our release show, while our friends Now played.

Duruflé, “REQUIEM: III” - Sanctus

We went on a band field trip to see this performed live at a church in Oakland. I first heard of Duruflé, when one of his solo organ pieces was performed at the Legion of Honor in SF during one of their weekly organ concerts. Duruflé adapted the vocal parts from Gregorian chants, but the organ figures that accompany the chorus have a very modern crystalline quality.

Búsqueda, “Entre dos ángeles”

Here is an Argentinian folk rock album from 1978. It’s difficult to find much information about it. The whole album is beautiful — full of soft harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, and Moog. Someone needs to reissue this one!

Yuri Norstein, Hedgehog in the Fog

Hedgehog in the Fog is a 1975 Soviet animated film directed by Yuri Norstein. Every evening, Hedgehog meets his friend Bear Cub to drink tea and count the stars. One night, the curious hedgehog takes a detour to explore what’s inside the fog. Norstein used multiple layers of glass panes to give the beautiful, painting-like images a three-dimensional appearance. The music and sound effects are fantastic too.

Magic Fig’s self-titled is available now via Silver Current Records.