White Magic For Lovers – in session for Marc Riley at BBC6 Music and recorded at Maida Vale studios on October 6 of this year.
Formed in 2024, Brighton-based duo White Magic for Lovers (Anglo-American couple Alfie & Thomas White) released their debut album ‘The Book of Lies’ on Valentine’s Day 2025 via the band’s own Chord Orchard imprint.
Weaving together disparate influences from across the decades (Judee Sill, Broadcast, Mary Lou Williams…) the LP followed three successful radio singles, the group supporting the release with live shows alongside C Duncan, The Waeve and Sea Power.
The Quietus posted a recent review of Book of Lies by Jonathan Wright and offers some insight as to who White Magic For Lovers are and what makes them so captivating:
There are albums that, because of their seeming fragility, don’t make a great first impression. The debut offering from White Magic For Lovers is a case in point. Come to The Book Of Lies half-attentive in the midst of a busy day and don’t be surprised if it seems to spiral away and get lost in the ether, all too easily overwhelmed by distractions as prosaic as the pinging of an email arriving or the whistling of a boiling kettle.
But persevere because the wispiness here is deceptive. Second and third listens reveal intention, playfulness (for all the prettiness of its melodies, the LP rather ominously shares a title with a book by occultist Aleister Crowley) and a far wider sonic palette than you might initially have realised. To adapt a phrase popularised by Kings Of Convenience back in 2001, here is an album to remind you that melancholic quiet can, when it connects, be the new loud.
Which perhaps isn’t too surprising because, for all The Book Of Lies often sounds like it was recorded by young musicians grappling with sixty-plus years of symphonic pop – this is a good thing, incidentally – it’s actually largely the work of Thomas White of Electric Soft Parade fame (along with his husband Alfie White, plus additional instrumental contributions from friends Charlotte Glasson, Craig Chapman, and Matt Eaton) and thus a grizzled survivor of 00s days when indie was going through one of its many fey phases.
However it came to be, The Book Of Lies sets its mood from the off. The instrumental ‘Axelrod’ gently swirls like a 1960s TV theme played by Grandaddy, a band whose influence often seems front and centre on the first few songs here, notably in the way ‘A Riddle Without A Clue’ suddenly surges and gets heavier halfway through its six-plus minutes.
Which perhaps isn’t too surprising because, for all The Book Of Lies often sounds like it was recorded by young musicians grappling with sixty-plus years of symphonic pop – this is a good thing, incidentally – it’s actually largely the work of Thomas White of Electric Soft Parade fame (along with his husband Alfie White, plus additional instrumental contributions from friends Charlotte Glasson, Craig Chapman, and Matt Eaton) and thus a grizzled survivor of 00s days when indie was going through one of its many fey phases.
However it came to be, The Book Of Lies sets its mood from the off. The instrumental ‘Axelrod’ gently swirls like a 1960s TV theme played by Grandaddy, a band whose influence often seems front and centre on the first few songs here, notably in the way ‘A Riddle Without A Clue’ suddenly surges and gets heavier halfway through its six-plus minutes.
That’s it in a nutshell – BTW: The Quietus is essential reading if you haven’t already made the discovery – good writing (a rarity these days).
Okay – press play and stand by for Friday – it’s coming and you can’t stop it. Maybe slow it down a bit, but . . .
