Family Average: 5/7

Ah dang Monday is back with a vengeance. We are going to need some serious positive energy if we are going to make it through this one. Luckily Tōth is here with an all new album. Let’s all take some time this week to work on ourselves. Use the title of this album to guide us through how we choose to spend our time. “Practice Magic And Seek Professional Help When Necessary”. That is right people, and we are not talking about pulling rabbits out of hats here. This kind of magic has real impacts on our very real well beings. Then again so does pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but still this is for sure a different kind of magic.

Look below and see what the family had to say.

This struck me as a theme album all centering around the sadness of a breakup and yet finding the hope of life at the end of the tunnel. I feel, with hope in my heart, he has made it to a better place.  

I loved the Beach Boy sound and harmonies.  They covered you like a warm blanket and made you feel warm and safe. My only problem was the fact that many of the songs had the same sound, vibe and melody.  However, the Beach Boys achieved great success in this way, so who am I to judge?

4/7

I really love the title of this collection of heartache music, it pretty much sums up my week. I have to say, this was a fun composition, complete with horns, strings and guitars. All of these components give this album a real retro feel. At times it is so light and dreamy that It is easy to overlook the fact that this L.P. is essentially a collection of heartbreak songs. One stand out track for me was “No Reason” which had a real “Beach Boys” quality to each, a dreamy composition with Brian Wilson-like arrangement, vocals and composition.  

I agree with Meg, despite the melancholy lyrics and the sad connotations of the breakup, the music is  quite warm and cheery. I think the trumpet and the string sections creates the magical sound, which resembles the “pet sounds” era of the Beach Boy recordings. This album works well as a cohesive piece, my only complaint is that most of the track sound similar and were therefore very predictable. I enjoyed this album

5/7

Where does all my stress go when I hear this record. Most likely my shoes. That would explain their immense weight, also why they are constantly jostling shaking anyone unfortunate enough to sit in front of me on a train. Tōth’s album is sprawling and comforting. Not unlike an enormous blanket. That said unlike an enormous blanket I do not kick this album on to the floor in the dead of the night. Gosh, what is with all my kicking? Maybe something is wrong with me.

I can deal with that later though. I still need to tell you more about this record. There is a subtle electronic quality running through the core of this album. It comes in and out of focus in mysterious iterations. A lot of these bits take the form of the use of little looped segments on the tracks. On “Song To Make You Fall In Love With Me” there is a lovely shifted drum beat. The ending of “Picture of You” comes together in an explosion of colorful layered segments. Yes, sir, this album has quite a few of these radiant moments.  

While the presence of electronic influence can be felt. The album seamlessly blends it with heaps of lovely acoustic sounds. LIghtly picked guitar, trumpets, and droning string instruments all turn up in various incarnations.

Speaking in terms of the subject matter of the songs the album is super therapeutic. Those who have loved lost, and all that will find a fair bit to nod their head along to. What I dug about it was that it never seemed to be looking towards the past in a negative or bitter light. Instead, it takes a more objective perspective. Things happen, and things will continue to happen.

6/7  

Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary is an interesting one. After listening to the album all the way through a few times, my brain felt sort of mushy. The sounds are resonant and dense, with heavily-layered tracks that flood and swirl around.  

It's a heavy piece of work filled with indie-wafting music that is atmospheric and sort of esoteric. With falsetto vocals, plenty of synth, orchestral strings, and some candy-coated pop-melodies, it's a fresh yet familiar sound. Underscored and carried by a classical understanding of composition, tempered by some quirky and deft trumpet playing, Toth has created a moody album tinged with heavy emotion and narratives of isolation. Despite the moodiness, there's a silver-lining coursing through. Somehow, there's a warmth that radiates from it.

Overall, there are some really lovely riffs and the album is a little beauty. None of the songs are particularly stand out -- they all just blend together and invite you to sit back and soak it all in. You may lose an hour (or three), but it would be pretty worth it to absorb the density and depth of these sounds. A good album for brooding and not moving.

5/7