While "Beam Me Up" & "Drop Me A Line" are still burning up dancefloors something like 4 years after their release, Brooklyn's Midnight Magic is back with a brand new album. Free From Your Spell is the 9-piece ensemble's 2nd full-length, and it sees Tiffany Roth, Morgan Wiley, Andrew Raposo, and rest of the gang "digging deeper into a cosmic realm, searching for different moods through harmony, dub, and texture." It's all magic to our ears as the 11-tracker glides through danceable rhythms of funk, disco, electro, and soul, and tracks like "I Gotta Feeling," "Down Delay," "Malibu Fun," "Black Cherry," "Sea Of Love," and "Free From Your Spell" are sure to quickly find places alongside the two aforementioned heaters from MM. But don't get it twisted: yes, the music makes you move, but it sounds just as good listening through headphones. There are various moods, tempos, and textures to be explored, as the profound ensemble always strives "to make the beats and basslines funky while balancing the elements of a big group of people and preserving space within the music."

• music label: Soul Clap Records 2016

reviewed by bal elbat 03/2017