SC25: A Different Ship

A Different Ship is Here We Go Magic’s most remarkable and captivating album yet, with an emotional and musical arc that is alternately calming and anxiety-inducing, and often both at once. “I Believe In Action” and “Make Up Your Mind” sound like they’re being beamed in from outer space, while more earthbound tracks such as “Miracle of Mary,” “Over The Ocean” and “Alone But Moving” amble in a somnolent haze, with Temple’s cool timbre cutting through the fog. Recorded & produced by Nigel Godrich (Rodiohead, Beck), the ten songs of A Different Ship carry a consistent thematic concern — what the band describes as an “unresolved tension between valuing being alone and valuing being connected.” Says Temple: “The music is beautiful, but feels like it’s brittle and about to crack. It’s always suspended in between major and minor, happy and sad, trying to find that middle ambiguous place.”