ALBUM: Magic Arm - Make Lists, Do Something

Magic Arm is the solo project of Manchester's Marc Rigelsford, who while big in Indie circles, has yet to hit the bigtime himself. He travels the musical world from early Blues to the Beta Band, sounding like all of them and none of them at the same time.

"Widths and Heights" opens like the themetune to the gameshow of the future, albeit a cheap future built in the 80s, but quickly comes back to ballady singer songwriter-ness. Sounds a bit like if Beck wasn't so crazy and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Its certainly lively, livelier than "disco-folk" like Whitest Boy Alive. "Bootsy Bootsy" certainly has the same feel to it, and the same drawbacks. Both the lyrics and melody are somewhat contrived and not particularly original, denying the true power that this music can have.

But thats not to say that the rest is as bad. Former single "Outdoor Games" is certainly more of a chilled acoustic number, luckily one thats way more Bon Iver than James Blunt. The mechanical drums also seem to touch upon Death Cab For Cutie and its side project The Postal Service, if they'd spent more time listening to Lemon Jelly and less time being all mopey in the middle of nowhere in the American Northwest.

"Move Out" is pure Hot Chip, whereas "Coach House" goes back to finger-picked acoustic nonsense, this time touching gloves with Scandi-poppers Kings Of Convenience whilst also serving as a relatively welcome musical interlude within the album itself.

The second half of the album, featuring an improved combination of lyrics and music, sees Marc finally find some form and emotion, on the tracks "Getting The Way" and "Slates On A Roof", both of which I feel would be much better in place of the actual album openers "Widths & Heights" and "Bootsy Bootsy", simply because they are miles better.

While the inclusion of covers on an album of original material is one that is hotly debated, there is ammunition for both sides with two of the tracks here. "Six Feet Cold In The Ground" is a track by highly influential, yet tragic Leroy Carr, who died at the age of 30 in 1935. Magic Arm have made the track a brand new entity which I'm sure pays an apt tribute to the original.

However, why the amazing (and recent) LCD Soundsystem track "Daft Punk Is Playing In My House" needs to be included I'll never truly know. Perhaps he wanted it on there. Perhaps the label wanted another track and he couldn't be bothered to write one. Perhaps friends and fans insisted that what is surely be a live favourite should be included? Unfortunately its lazy and barely pays lip service to the original, sounding like Bedouin Soundclash on a live lounge session trying to reference a band that were way cooler than they were. Whatever the reason, its inclusion on the album sticks out like a sore thumb.

"Sound Of The Night" is a complex album closer that references classic rock in a way only bands like this one and The Beta Band can, but the inclusion of a "hidden track" on a debut album on an independent label does seem to smack of self-importance, moreso than it would for a band on a larger label.

While Marc is clearly very talented, it is not entirely clear what he's set out to achieve with this album - it's merely the sum of its parts and apparently a collection of what has been done to date. Unfortunately this means that individual songs do not fit well together, and some not even so well on their own. However, this is indeed a good thing. For starters, it means that Magic Arm's second album will be all the better for it, with Marc having the experience from this album to learn from his mistakes. Hopefully the second album, which I eagerly await, will be released to a far greater audience than this one. I've certainly heard debuts that are a whole lot worse.

7/10

Make Lists, Do Something is out now on Switchflicker/Peace Frog Records.