Magik Markers - 'Balf Quarry' (Drag City) Released 27/04/09

The Magik Markers, Elisa Ambrogio and Pete Nolan, return as a duo with their first “full” release since 2007. Once known for their experimental, noisy, psychedelic free jams, the group reinvented themselves for ‘Boss’, opting for a more structured, coherent approach. Their new album ‘Balf Quarry’ continues in a similar vein.

Mining a similar no-wave/garage-rock sound, comparisons to Sonic Youth circa 1986 (Evol) are easy to draw (even noted on the press release) - not surprising considering that they not only toured with them but at one point had Lee Ranaldo behind the desk. ‘Balf Quarry’ is, however, by no means dismissible.

Although just ten tracks make up the record, it feels incredibly eclectic jumping from slow paced, blues rock-tinged dirge tracks such as ‘Risperdal’ and the vengeful, ‘Don’t Talk in Your Sleep’, to raucous, Stooges inspired hardcore on ‘Jerks’ and ‘The Lighter Side of....Hippies’, to sparse ballads ‘State Numbers’ and ‘Shells’. During ‘7/23’ the group even touch on surf-rock, but collectively the whole package still seems to work.

Ideas within the album feel like they are being stretched to breaking point without ever sounding excessive or needless. A sense of anxiety and apprehension is notable throughout, and is only relieved when the band reveals their riotous, unhinged rock side. The strength here seems to lie in the duo’s ability to trigger uncertainty - even after repeated listens their effective use of repetitive refrains seems to instil ambiguity.

Scott Colburn produces, bringing a similar vibe to his work for Animal Collective. Ambrogio’s strong vocals certainly benefit from being brought to the front of the mix – although in another SY comparison there is certainly an element of Kim Gordon, both in sound and lyrical styling. Clearly keeping tuneful and maintaining a melody plays second fiddle to conveying a mood and atmosphere and it works well. Only on the contrived sounding ‘Psychosomatic’ does the method seem to fall short.

‘The Ricercar of Dr. Clara Haber' is the only piece on the album that alludes to the groups past. In many ways superfluous, it’s an instrumental jam that fails to draw the listener in, sitting uneasily amongst their new found more formulaic sound. Feeling more like an after-thought forced reference to their past the album would flow better without it.

Haunting, detached, tense and occasionally discordant, this is an intriguing album that certainly won’t be making the radio 1 play list, but is likely to garner the group greater cult appreciation – even if it is,  to some extent, closing the door on their original art/noise driven fan-base.