Just Dance

posted in: Artist Features

There are lots of dissimilarities between Magdalena and Lady Gaga, but probably one of the bigger ones is their song Poker Face. Lady Gaga’s is, well, you’ve heard it. Magdalena’s Poker Face is deeper, more cinematic. Breathless and insistent, the song is built on keys of every shape and sound. The Chico, California band are unapologetic pianophiles. On the ebullient, poppy I Only Wanted the keys chirp and squeal. On the excellent Making Things Right they pulse and reverberate. On Holding On they set an elegiac mood before hyperkinetic drum and bass beat kicks in. (If there a song that’s perfect for crying on the dance floor, it’s this one.) Though the ivories often get center stage, there’s plenty of other stuff going on: tinny digital textures, cascading guitars, thrashing drums. Magdalena have created their own original sound, and in that regard and that regard only, they’re just like Gaga.