Widths and Heights - Pre Order Now
Hailed by Iron & Wine's Samuel Beam as 'the master of the loop pedal', multi instrumentalist Marc Rigelsford, AKA the Manchester based Magic Arm, is set to release ‘Widths and Heights’ on Switchflicker Records in July. Splendidly eclectic, ‘Widths and Heights’ is a masterpiece of musicianship, with layers of sounds, bleeps and vocals all fighting for supremacy over each other, yet working side by side to produce a playfully organic gem, whilst at the same time serving the best interests of pop music.
Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, always the baton bearer for new music, championed Magic Arm’s last release, the ‘Outdoor Games’ EP, released last year - After the successful release of the EP, which received critical acclaim from the press, Marc locked himself away to write for four months, and then spent a further six months in the studio to put the finishing touches to ‘Widths and Heights’, and his debut album with Robin Housman.
The b-side to ‘Widths and Heights’, ‘Ballad of Melody Nelson’, is a cover of the Serge Gainsbourg classic which has now become a regular in his live show. Marc was invited to perform a song at an evening celebrating the French singer, and he proceeded to leave his unmistakeable stamp all over the classic, to a fantastic response.
REVIEWS FOR OUTDOOR GAMES EP (Switchflicker 2007)
It doesn't do to get too wrapped up in the world of modern folk. Too many beards, too many grown adults riding strawberry unicorns into rainbow suns, too many Sufjan Stevens albums to keep up with. But, now and then, a record comes along which you can't ignore; a record which really does sound like waves of lysergic happiness lapping against your cerebral cortex. Like Adem, Manchester's Magic Arm, aka Marc Rigelsford, is a man digging for diamonds at the folk/electronica coalface. Outdoor Games is a stirring, deliciously woozy surge of a record. Even better, it is the only folk song left in the world that isn't being used on a mobile phone ad."-GUARDIAN GUIDE
"Convention and genre cannot contain Marc Rigelsford, AKA Magic Arm. He is a musical Harry Houdini, slipping the binds of common expectation to deliver a debut EP, Outdoor Games, which fully warrants that much used and abused term, eclectic. There is a fearlessly ambitious imagination at work on these seven tracks; psych-folk, Casio-pop, lo-fi electronica, and much more, the unifying factor here is excellence...It is, in short, a work of understated magnificence."-DROWNED IN SOUND
“Outdoor Games†is a superb mini-album crammed with brave, exploratory ideas and charismatic melodies, exploiting both traditional and futuristic possibilities along the way - for lovers of a good tune, post dance culture fans and aficionados of modern urban folk and roots this is an absolute must, even though this could easily break into the mainstream at any time."-MANCHESTER MUSIC
To purchase Outdoor Games EP please go to www.switchflicker.co.uk or click below
Outdoor Games EP Swalf 12
10" vinyl// £5.00