Sydney band Magnus have flipped the switch on their new single 'Humbugger', taken from their forthcoming debut album 'Detachment'.
The second track to be taken from 'Detachment', 'Humbugger' offers an insight into the record's broad sonic variety according to frontman Arne Heeres. “The album as a whole is really in its own style, every song is slightly different,” Arne says.
“I've always enjoyed listening to bands where you can't really predict what's coming up next, and the first single that we released in December last year, that was more of a really high-energy punk attitude, still with some psychedelic influences.
“['Humbugger'] has got a different groove to it and it's a little bit weirder. Then there's also acoustic songs on the album; it ranges in very great ways.”
While Magnus' 2016 debut album was recorded quickly using a basic DIY approach, Arne says a lot more time and energy, not to mention money, has been invested into producing 'Detachment'. “It's a learning process that continues all the time,” Arne says of what he learnt from recording the first album.
“For the first album it was more done on a budget, so it was recording the album in five days then spending another three days mixing it. Whereas for this one I made better demoes to start with, then really tried to find the right team to put it together.
“I knew the sound that I wanted for it; everything was recorded analogue, so through a big desk on tape, recording everything as live as possible... It's always a process, and listening back to the first album I can see the progression that we had with this one.”
Adding to that progression for 'Detachment' were the drumming talents of Lucius Borich (COG) and the production skills of Paul McKercher, as Arne explains. “Somebody like Paul McKercher as a producer, sitting behind the desk, it's like having a good coach on a basketball team,” he says.
“It just brings some kind of stability to it and when you're recording and you're playing the music, it's very different than sitting behind the desk and listening to it.
“He's got great advice coming from behind the desk, and he has so much experience as well; it's such a smooth process working with him and he's a fantastic, nice guy as well.”
The name Magnus is derived from an Old Norse word (Magn-hus) meaning 'power house'; Arne, who grew up in the Netherlands, says it reflects the type of music he wants to create with the band as well as their approach to live performance.
“Magnus stuck because at the time when we started I thought that generally the music going on was a bit too placid, a bit too friendly,” he says, “there wasn't enough edge to it and not enough power to it.
“That's something that I wanted in my music that I wanted to come out. So Magnus saying 'power house' and originally being a trio and now having a fourth member, I want it to be big and overpowering.”
The power of Magnus will be on display when they hit the road for a brief east-coast tour during July and August. “We did a show at the end of last year where we played some new songs as well and that went fantastic,” Arne says.
“With this band together there's so much conviction in playing [the songs] live and putting the energy in it, which is the thing that counts really. I was listening back to it and we play everything five per cent faster than we do on the record,” he laughs, “so the excitement level is definitely up.”
Magnus 2019 Tour Dates
Sat 20 Jul - Woolly Mammoth (Brisbane)Sun 21 Jul - Vinnie's Dive Bar (Gold Coast)
Fri 26 Jul - The Sly Fox (Sydney)
Fri 16 Aug - The B.East (Melbourne)
17-18 Aug - Smashfest 5 @ Bombay Rock (Melbourne)
