One track, Ten minutes. Latest Latitudes session from Mira Billotte and Doug Shaw’s Psychedelic folk combo.
- New Egypt follows White Magic's hugely successful Dark Stars EP (Drag City, 2007).
- This track was created specially for the Latitudes series and recorded during White Magic's 2007 European tour.
- As usual this Latitudes release is in super fancy art cardstock packaging with gold foil blocking, limited to 1000 only!
When i saw White Magic play for the first time I walked away charmed and excited, it was one of those occasions where i felt as though i was witnessing something totally original, intense and straight from the heart... and it was made all the more strange by the fact that their performance was way more memorable and engaging than the artist they were supporting. I left with a glowing feeling of innocence and darkness... like when you're a kid and you're digging around in your garden with the worms and woodlice and you come across a small animal's skull, and it's not frightening or horrible but intriguing and beautiful. When White Magic came back into town I couldn't let them leave without recording a session for Southern's Latitudes imprint (and thankfully they accepted my invitation).
2007 was a fantastic year for the band seeing the release of their second EP Dark Stars – following their first full-length Dat Rosa Mel Apibus, both to critical praise. Their combination of folk, blues, country and supernatural psychedelia bring to mind visions of late 60’s communes where people ran naked, grew marijuana and kids chased dogs wearing bandannas, though something sinister is always hiding behind the romantic visage… but this is not altogether the vision of Brooklyn where the band presently reside. To live in a city and create music of this nature and intensity, music that pulses like the heart of a storm is a thing of great triumph. Their originality lies in the journey of their songs, New Egypt being no exception.
White Magic are champions of repetition, looping and feedback and apocalyptic balladry that’s as threatening and paranoid as it is beautiful and contemplative. Mira Billotte’s voice, accompanied by Doug Shaw’s psyched out guitar work and a drum beat that’s relentless and driving is a ferocious combination, and one that we at Southern are really happy to have been given the opportunity to present to you, here.
Please sit back and enjoy.
Sanna Charles, Southern Records, November 2007