At Canadian Music Week 2006, I saw Magneta Lane perform as part of a showcase at the Horseshoe. I wasn't exactly blown away by their performance. They seemed stilted and awkward, more concerned with how they looked than how they played. I also have a memory of walking past them downstairs later in the night and saying 'great show' only to have the three of them stare blankly at me... *walks away slowly*
In retrospect, they might have been overwhelmed and intimidated by the setting. As the story goes, none of them were even 19 years old, so that would explain a lot. Industry legends, record execs and so on would all have been there... I forget who was on the rest of the bill, but it could have been Wintersleep...? Honestly that week was a bit of a blur so I can't say with any certainty.
In any case, the band has returned with a new EP, which was a surprise to me cause I had written them off after their last record.
So imagine my pleasant surprise to get a preview of Witchrock and hear that all this time they've been working on songs and refining their craft. Whereas their first EP leaned towards Strokes-like indie rock, this EP is a bit more in the Sleater-Kinney direction.
My favourite track is "Leave the Light On", a solid indie rock power ballad, which I'm always a sucker for. I'm also a sucker for anything resembling Stevie Nicks imagery (note the record title and video below).
It's a good move for a 'comeback' to start small and build back up from there. Hopefully by the next record they can ditch material like the final track "Lucky" which sounds like a leftover from their earlier era, and head further into carving out their distinct identity.
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