Local Review: Static Replica – Magic Panic

Static Replica
Magic Panic
Self-Released
Street: 07.31
Static Replica = Washed Out + Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys + Destroyer

Static Replica’s new album Magic Panic is a summertime surprise that delivers on so many levels. Every song drips out properly caffeinated dream-pop with a chill wave large enough to surf on. Static Replica is a mix of the aforementioned dream-pop, chillwave and solid indie-rock that rolls out in a controlled, welcoming fuzz.

The record is anchored firmly by dual vocals that fall between John Lennon’s early-Beatles nasal whine and the early-evening, two-cocktail buzz of Ernest Weatherly Greene Jr‘s Washed Out project. These two things together, like vodka and bubblegum, somehow seem to go together perfectly.

Instrumentally, Magic Panic has a clean, crunching sound that reinvents itself on every track. The lead guitar wanders in and out over the course of this record with a tinny, hollow bite that reminds me of what Robert Fripp delivered for David Bowie on the album Heroes in 1977. It’s not overtaking the song, but definitely letting you know the guitar is there.

What I believe drives these songs on Magic Panic is the surfy, experimental, Pet Sounds-era The Beach Boys sound that explodes like confetti over this entire record. It’s the album’s central vibe with a modern indie twist, delivering lyrics and hooks that set quick like wet cement and early century discontent.

Static Replica has the cool breeze, summer day indie thing down, singing about fading away, transformation, breaking through and dreams being the enemy of time. The title track “Magic Panic” starts off with a doom and drone-sounding synth line supporting some quiet existential gloom: “I sought the mountain, but I feared the climb.” Thank God this theme didn’t end up being a hopelessly standing on the edge, peering into the void type of song. Instead the track quickly takes a turn into transformation: “I’ll break through / Into another form / Maybe something new,” and ends softly with, “And I knew / That you would be the one / To push and pull me through, baby.”

“Oh, Girl” is a standout track that feels like a surfy day at the beach, with a Phil Spector-like wall of sound muscle. The vocals sound as if the transistor radio just isn’t quite fixed in to the station, but it’s beautiful just the same. “No Dime” is a full-throttle rocker, like shaking a bucket of nails in an empty tin shed, yet it’s still able to move you. And finally, the track “Blood Moon” is a Chris Isaak-inspired slow burn summer song that is sticky and sweet like a popsicle, with yacht rock elegance. “You know I blame it on the blood moon / And no I won’t be coming home too soon,” they sing. You can almost hear the waves break softly on the beach.

The best track on Magic Panic is the dreamy “Bedroom Eyes.” It’s a track about separation from a loved one: “How narrow is the path / How steep is the climb / If there’s no turning back / How quickly must I strike / To get back to you / In time.” I imagine a star-crossed lover trying to dream their lover back: “I can hear your bedroom eyes / From the telephone line.” But the lovers are left to walk two separate paths: “Spend a long time / Staring at these stones / The ones I walk with you / And the ones I walk alone.”

Influencers in the know have termed this a Charli xcx BRAT summer. A carefree, fun shut down. The influencers in the know may be 100% right! With their killer record Magic Panic, Static Replica reminds us: “Remember when you were young / Just as the pendulum swung.” BRAT summers and shut downs never last forever. Live large while you can. And as BRAT summer carries on, Static Replica’s Magic Panic will be the record that goes on when the sun starts to go down and all the cocktail bars open up for the evening. In the last days of summer, Magic Panic will rage you, comfortably chilled, into the quiet new dawn. –Russ Holsten 

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