Magdalucca - The Air Between (2018)

Magdalucca’s debut EP, The Air Between, imaginatively and cohesively combines stringed instruments and classical music motifs with rugged electronic beats and bold synthetic textures. This alternative pop aesthetic conjures the moody beauty of Björk, Portishead and when incorporating the concepts of her visual art there are subtle hints of Laurie Anderson. The Air Between is the result of a multi-collaboration between Magdalucca, Eugene from Rome, Italy, a producer/musician with a keen sense of how to puncture pop with swathes of electronica, and Sam Anderson from Seattle who produced the songs’ structures using classical implementation complemented by searing electric guitar and rock drum instrumentations.

The Air Between is a 6-song EP plus a wildly reimagined remix. Throughout the release, Magdalucca’s sensually emotive vocals and lyrics offer enlightening and emboldening social commentary, personal revelation, and wisdom gleaned from tenets of Buddhism.

The first single from the The Air Between is the sublimely beautiful “Cygnet.” It’s an emotional centerpiece of the album because it’s the first song she ever wrote, and it’s tied to the birth of her son and Magdalucca’s difficulty, at first, with accepting motherhood. The song has become a celebration of her son and parenting, poetically conveying how that the baby swan swimming next her in the river of life will eventually find his own way. “Cygnet” will be paired with a playfully artful video produced and created by the artist.

Other standout tracks such as “Stand By Your Side” and “Tsukina Waguma” meld bare truths with the magic of life. The minor-key sentimentality of “Stand By Your Side” is powerfully offset by its soulfully centered, Buddhist-influenced lyrics, which offer a perspective of death as a passage into another dimension. It’s almost as if the music reflects the Western view of death as a sad ending but the sagely spiritual lyrics provide an intriguingly uplifting contrast. With an exhilarating modern-vintage synth-pop flair, “Tsukina Waguma” explores sacred Buddhist lore about a metaphorical search for the white hair on a blackbear’s neck to heal a loved one.

Magdalucca’s “Summer Love (Remix)”, despite its carefree title, casts a light on the longing for love behind transient amorous trysts. On the EP, the track originally appears as a lush electro-pop song with Magdalena’s dynamically varied vocals easing between rhythmic verses and soaring choruses. The remix is a steamy foray into experimental dub-step replete with cavernous pulsating beats, sleek atmospherics, and grimy electronic touches.

As a visual artist, Magdalucca favors an abstract approach to her messaging. “I like to give people space and offer art they can really think about,” she shares. A cross-section of marquee works, include Talking dress and the film Lavender Braid. The thought-provoking work Talking Dress is literally a bubble wrap dress fitted with tiny speakers that communicate “space is information” using Morris code. Lavender braid has been screened at several international film festivals, and its narrative explores the life of a lavender gardener who has sexual interactions with bees.

Magdalucca was born and raised in Poland and came to the States in 2004. At a young age she felt the societal pressure to give up art in order to make a living and she didn’t want to sully her purist ideals with commercial creative considerations. Her current partner well-known American artist, Gary Hill encouraged her to follow her dreams; release her bluebird as it were.

After making the courageous journey to un-cage her soul, Magdalena reflects back and says: “Art and music are sacred. They connect us on very deep primordial levels and help us be in touch with our true selves. When we are experiencing or creating art, we feel free and happy like those moments when we just wake up, before memory, worry, and responsibility hit our senses.”