Magic Fig Interview: Kaleidoscope of Sound
San Francisco psych band Magic Fig are in no hurry. They don't celebrate their new album Valerian Tea, out Friday via Exploding in Sound, with a record release show until next month at 4 Star Theater. Their next announced show after that, an opening slot for Vinyl Williams at Gold—Diggers in L.A., isn't until January. Then again, Magic Fig have long been ones to layer and chisel rather than be openly prolific. Some of the songs for Valerian Tea were in the works before the May 2024 release of the band's self-titled debut. (They always intended Magic Fig to be an album, but by nature of its 6-song length, streaming services automatically labeled it an EP.) Lead singer Inna Showalter wrote vocal melodies and then lyrics based on the instrumentation, recording at her house, in a closet converted to a vocal booth. Sometimes, what she sang was free associational words that sounded natural alongside the melodies and band's instrumentation. From there, the words either stuck, or Showalter expanded on a theme.
It was in the studio with producer Joel Robinow, though, where Magic Fig's measured process shined. They're not the type of psychedelic band to leave their messes, let alone highlight them. Their sound is pithy, each element coming together like puzzle pieces. "Kaleidoscope of sound / Taking shape all around," Showalter sings on lead single and opening track "Flammarion", self-reflexively referencing Jon Chaney's beginning synth arpeggio, followed by Muzzy Moskowitz' and Taylor Giffin's powerful, yet deliberate guitar and drums. Showalter's vocals and Matthew Ferrara's bass come in gradually, but with a groove. The song is named after French astronomer Camille Flammarion, who explored the metaphysical. His juxtaposition of science and spirituality fits the MO of Magic Fig, a band whose intentionality still leaves room for, well, magic.
Because of Inna Showalter's cooing vocals combined with the band's dabbling into kosmiche and electronica, Magic Fig will inevitably be compared to bands like Stereolab and Broadcast. What I hear are more subconscious connections, musical particles that have collided in the ether. Showalter's melody on "Walking Shoes" is reminiscent of Air's instrumental "Ce matin-lĂ "; the meaty synth-bass-drums combo on "Goblin" resembles something you might encounter on an album by fellow folklore-loving Bay Area fuzz wizard Ty Segall. Ultimately, Magic Fig have succeeded in creating an aesthetic uniquely theirs. "At the Garden's Gate" features glockenspiel and mallet percussion, sporting a jazzy sway and beatific, yet eerie vocals, all the while finding time to somehow make their brand of krautrock sparkly. 7-minute closer "Sleep of Reason" starts acoustically, with grand piano, slow drums, and strummed guitars, but is eventually swallowed by buzzing electric guitars that rise like an overflowing bowl of liquid. Valerian Tea is, overall, the sort of album best described by simile even after repeat listens, which is really a sign that you should just press play and take it in.
Last month, I spoke with Showalter and Chaney over Zoom about Valerian Tea, the album's visual identity, the San Francisco scene, and to what extent Magic Fig is a "jam band." Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity, and be on the lookout for the announcement of more January tour dates on the West Coast.
Since I Left You: Did you always know you wanted to release an EP first and then take your time to hone your sound with your debut LP? Or is that just kind of how it happened?
Inna Showalter: I think that's just kind of how it happened. We weren't planning to do it that way. We had a certain number of songs that were finished, and additional material we were working on. We wanted to get the first album out before continuing to work on the new stuff.
Jon Chaney: When we did the first EP, we all considered it an album, but because of the number of songs and the length, the Internet and [streaming] services determined it was an EP. [laughs] Our songs are longer. If it was a punk record and 30 minutes, it would be considered an album.
SILY: Inna, were you always planning on writing the lyrics after the music?
IS: For the first album, I joined the band when they were already established, and I wasn't sure what direction to go in. We used librettos for the lyrics. For [this] album, we felt more like we gelled as a band, and I was feeling inspired to contribute lyrically. I already had some lyrics written, but the way we [basically] work is the musical idea is born first, and I add the vocal melodies and lyrics as it's being written.
SILY: Like on "Flammarion", when you realized that the French astronomer and writer's last name was what you were saying, so you decided to tailor the song's themes around him. But the earworm, to me, is still the line, "Float on and on / Flammarion." The lines follow the same wavelength.
IS: Often, when I hear the music, I hear words in my head. Sometimes, I'll just go with it because it's the best fit. I was listening to the demo a lot, and for some reason, those words kept popping up in my head.
SILY: When you sing later on the song, "kaleidoscope of sound / taking shape all around," it feels like the band's mission statement.
IS: [laughs] Thanks. It was a lot of fun writing that one. This whole album was fun, but that song came together pretty effortlessly.
JC: It was written pretty quickly, the first one we put together for the record. Initial ideas were put together with me and Muzzy sending voice memos back and forth. The rest of it came together in practice, some of it spontaneously.
SILY: On "Walking Shoes", there's a contrast between the first and second verse, both in terms of your lyrical tone and the instrumentation. The instrumentation is a little bit more off-kilter on the second verse to go along with what you're singing about. Was that intentional?
IS: Hmm...I'm not sure it was really intentional. That's one where the lyrics just came out of me. I wrote it in a day. The melody came together first. Muzzy had a pretty different sounding demo of that song originally. It was pretty stripped-down on acoustic guitar. Ultimately, the song ended up being completely different than what the original idea was. I didn't have to put a lot of thought or effort into the vocal melodies or lyrics on that one. It definitely wasn't intentional in terms of the contrast you're speaking about.
SILY: Nonetheless, it's fun as an outside listener to put these patterns together. It could have been a happy accident, but patterns appearing speaks to the idea of records as living, breathing things.
IS: Yeah, a lot of the changes took place organically in the process of recording the songs. We would add all kinds of things and take [them] away later.
SILY: What's the role of the short instrumental songs on the record?
IS: Those were intros to the songs, and they became their own things, and we decided to split them off as standalone tracks.
JC: Yeah. "Riders at Dawn", for instance, was connected to the song after it, but we decided to split it off into its own track. It uses a chord progression that's in "Sensation Seeker" later in [that] song but completely changed. [For] "Splinter", we wanted this intro. Muzzy had the idea of speeding up the arpeggiator so you couldn't tell it was the intro of "Goblin", and just obfuscating it and slowing it down. Spontaneously, we decided it would be its own track. We kind of forgot about it, and then were like, "Oh yeah, that's what we said we would do, and now it's there." [laughs]
IS: Also, for the purposes of a music video, so there isn't an extremely long introduction, it just goes right into the song.
SILY: How do you view the visual identity of the record in conjunction with the music?
IS: There are definitely some themes. We built this aesthetic of whimsical, cosmically themed visuals that people seem to be on board with. Muzzy, our guitarist, does all the cover art and a lot of our flat show fliers. He's so creative and comes up with the most amazing visual ideas. The people we've had working on our music videos organically came up with these ideas on their own, and they seem to gel really well with the music. We're fortunate in that regard.
SILY: Some folks who worked on the previous record worked on this one, too, like Joel Robinow. Was there a benefit of continuity in working with the same people? Do you feel like your creative partnership expanded on this record?
JC: I've definitely learned a lot from the process of working with Joel. He has such a good ear. [We] programmed synth sounds together. The first experience of working with him [involved] getting used to the process and how he works, and [this time, there was] an expectation. [When doing vocals,] he's really good at thinking of harmonies on the spot. That continuity definitely showed on this record.
IS: For me, personally, Joel is really supportive and encourages me to explore any ideas for harmonies or weird effects I want to add. He's also a perfectionist, so we do tons of takes until we get it just right. It can get a little frustrating, but ultimately, it lends itself to a better sound.
SILY: To what extent does Magic Fig jam? You don't necessarily seem like the type of band that jams, like you want to have a certain looseness reflected in the final product. There's a tautness to the music, a defined minimalism. When there are more layers, it seems very intentional.
IS: Definitely. There's a lot of experimentation that goes into it. We do jam at practice, and often times, the jams will become something we refine later on. Overall, you're correct, it's very intentional. [laughs]
JC: I have a field recorder that I'll often bring to practice so I can capture all these jams and we can listen back and be like, "Oh, there was an improvised part here that sounds cool that we can use as a part in a song." Like Inna said, a lot of times, we'll pile on ideas in the recording process and slowly start to delete stuff. We'll be like, "Oh, we actually just need drums and bass and vocals here," instead of a million things, and we'll have that variation in each part.
IS: In other parts, we keep all the million things! [laughs] It really depends.
SILY: What's your approach to playing live as compared to making records?
JC: As far as keyboards go, I try to get everything I can that's on the record, live. I have a Nord, so I can program it at a very fine level and get as many patches and layers as I want. I use a Moog live, and there are no patches on it, so I pick a few settings I really like. We do have some different things that happen live as far as songs going into each other, or jammy intros to "Walking Shoes". The more we play these songs, the more we're like, "Let's change this." There's more of a looseness to playing live. We finished recording these songs a while ago and kept playing them live, so they kind of naturally changed.
IS: I try to focus on vibing with the audience while simultaneously trying to keep track of all the million things I need to be doing. I'm still fairly new to playing instruments while singing live. It's a learning curve, but it's been a really great challenge. I've learned so much performing and recording with this band. I play Mellotron, and sometimes, I'll incorporate the glockenspiel. I have a vocal effects pedal, in-ear monitors. There's a lot going on, and I'm still getting used to it, but I'm doing my best and learning as I go along. [laughs]
SILY: Have you played all of the songs from this album live?
IS: We've never played "Riders at Dawn" and "Sensation Seeker" live, but we've done all the other ones.
SILY: Are you planning on doing them at your record release show?
IS: To be determined. [laughs]
JC: We've never played "Sensation Seeker" as it is now at any practice. We recorded the basic parts, and it's its own thing. I would have to learn how to play stuff, so we'll see.
SILY: There's a lot going on in that song.
IS: I convinced the guys to all lay down vocals on that song, for better or worse. I don't know how thrilled they were about it, but I am. I think it turned out great.
SILY: Are you the type of band that's constantly writing and working on stuff?
JC: We do have a completely new song that's in our live set that we haven't recorded yet. But we're in a lull of practicing right now. When we're practicing, we're always writing stuff. It naturally happens. We have a lot of material when we're practicing, unless we have a bunch of shows booked and we're practicing a set. But even then, we're constantly jamming, which is why I capture it on a field recorder, in case we want to use it in the future.
IS: Jon's been a great chronicler of all our ideas and saving them all in one place. It's great to go back and say, "Oh, I don't really remember this, it sounds great." The collaborative process has been really rewarding and kind of magical. It's really fun. Ideas come together really effortlessly a lot of the time.
SILY: Do you feel embedded within the San Francisco scene that a lot of the other bands you're in are a part of?
IS: The prog-psych project is pretty new for me. Before that, and even currently, I'm more in the indie portion of the Bay Area scene. It's been really cool to branch out in this new area of music. I'm not sure there's really a cohesive scene here.
JC: As far as genres go, I feel like people make whatever music they want, and then they'll just play shows together. There are definitely some psych bands, like BOLERO!. But there are lots of different types of music. We won't just play with psych bands, we'll play with indie pop bands. It's not cohesive genre-wise, just in terms of people participating in it.
IS: The community here is very supportive. It's a small city. Of course, there's the East Bay and lots of bands there, too, but by and large, everybody is very supportive of one another. It feels really nice to have that community.
SILY: Is there anything either of you have been watching, listening to, or reading lately that's caught your attention?
IS: I've been delving more into Russian literature. Russian is my first language, and in recent times, I haven't been reading as much in Russian. Now, I'm starting to again. I just got through The Brothers Karamazov, which was a beast, but very worthwhile. I've been listening to the 17-hour prog [inspiration] mix Muzzy made for us. [laughs] I'm also reading a Flammarion book, one of his sci-fi novels he wrote back in the 1800's.
JC: I'm currently in my last semester of grad school for music composition, so I've been listening to 20th century classical stuff, like György Ligeti and Gérard Grisey. In the summer, I was listening to a lot more pop, indie, and prog, and once school starts, I'm listening to a lot of classical canon music. I definitely get inspiration for songwriting from those kinds of composers. There's so much out there in classical canon music, that little tiny seconds of really long pieces can be really inspiring for using in a pop song that has a very different context.
