The Apples In Stereo
New Magnetic Wonder
Simian / Yep Roc
By David Barker
The five years between Velocity of Sound, The Apples in Stereo's lukewarm previous record, and New Magnetic Wonder, the band's welcome return to form and first release for Yep Roc/Elijah Wood's Simian label, yielded a whole new world, both for the band and in the music scene in general. As far as The Apples go, Bob Schneider worked on his electro-pop project Marbles and the bedroom minimalist pop of Ulysses. A divorce in 2004 between Schneider and then-Apples drummer Hilarie Sidney didn't wreck the band as one might have expected, though Sidney did officially exit the band this past fall. Fortunately she stuck with the band through this latest recording, contributing two songs to this release.
One of the most exciting bits of news for Elephant 6 freaks surrounding the release of New Magnetic Wonder was the news that Neutral Milk Hotel leader/recluse Jeff Mangum would be appearing on the record, halting his hermetic existence for the first time in years. Here Mangum grabs some credits for drums, handclaps and backing vocals, but his brevity on the record will do little to appease those who were expecting something much grander from the enigmatic character.
With the band's psychedelic pop sensibilities intact as always, New Magnetic Wonder displays a slightly different facet of The Apples'--one that feels more akin to Schneider's Marbles--with more in the way of chunky, basic chords, some electronic tinkering, and a preference for production that's much less fuzzy than what the band has done in the past. It’s also misleading that of the two dozen tracks on the album, at least ten are noodly, musical interludes that despite what Schneider says about segues, don’t really make the release more appealing.
That said, New Magnetic Wonder still has more than its share of soon-to-be Apples classics, the aforementioned Sidney-composed tracks (“Sunndal Song” and “Sunday Sounds”) are two of the record’s best, though both are rooted in the same chord progressions and are almost indistinguishable from one another at the start. “7 Stars,” “Play Tough” and “Same Old Drag” are some of the band’s strongest tracks to date. But really, all that’s really worth saying here is that The Apples have never strayed far from their roots, and while this might not be their best, it still delivers all the huggable candy-coated goodness that makes the band what it is.
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