The Magic Gang have confirmed details of their second album, ‘Death Of The Party’, and shared a spiky new song in ‘What Have You Got To Lose’.
The Brighton band will return with the follow-up to their self-titled 2018 debut on May 15. The album was recorded in Atlanta with Grammy-winning producer Ben H. Allen (Deerhunter, Animal Collective).
According to a press release, ‘Death Of The Party’ was lyrically inspired by the likes of Lou Reed, Alex Turner, and Jonathan Richman, while its songs “reflect the experiences of many of their early-twentysomething contemporaries”, including “anxieties about money, relationships and the future, but also the fun moments that they use to escape from such issues”.
‘What Have You Got To Lose’ is the second track to be taken from the record and finds bassist Gus Taylor delivering stream-of-consciousness lyrics over spiky, dark guitars and a throbbing bassline. “I am looking at the people who are dancing,” he sings at one point. “Gifted at wasting the whole week away.” Listen to it below.
The tracklist for ‘Death Of The Party’ is as follows:
‘Intro’
‘Think’
‘Make A Sound’
‘Just A Minute’
‘What Have You Got To Lose’
‘Death Of The Party’
‘Take Back The Track’
‘I Am Sunshine’
‘Gonna Bounce Back’
‘Fail Better’
‘(The World) Outside My Door’
The band will support Blossoms on their UK tour, beginning in Norwich tomorrow (March 7). They will also play a series of in-store dates around the album’s release – those dates are as follows:
May 2020
15 – London, Rough Trade East
16 – Bristol, Rough Trade
17 – Nottingham, Rough Trade
18 – Manchester, Piccadilly Records at Night & Day Cafe
20 – Birmingham, HMV
21 – Brighton, Resident
25 – Southampton, Vinilo at The Loft
26 – Kingston, Banquet Records at Pryzm
Last month, The Magic Gang shared the first track from ‘Death Of The Party’ in ‘Think’. Guitarist and vocalist Kris Smith explained in a press release the song was about avoiding conflict and reminding yourself not to make things difficult at everyone’s expense”.