Crossing genres may be more popular than ever these days, but even so, it takes a confident, creative musician to go deeper than a superficial mash-up, especially when it comes to blending traits from fundamentally different realms like acoustic roots music and amplified pop-rock. For Organic Records’ Jeremy Garrett, it’s an ongoing process — not the only, but a persistent thread in his work — and his growing mastery is evident in his latest single, “Magic.”
“I am a sucker for love songs and I’m not ashamed to admit that I love pop music,” he confesses. “I don’t often do covers, but when I heard this song by the band Coldplay, it really spoke to me. Love should be magical and you're lucky if you find it. This one goes out to all the lovers out there!”
“I had a blast layering and looping up some different parts on this song,” Garrett adds, “and I hope the ‘feel good’ vibe that I was going for really comes through in the track.”
That vibe is established from the song’s downbeat, as Garrett brightens the original’s almost somber mood with a jangly, percussive opening before swirling guitar chords outline the song’s harmonic progression amid flashes of carefully manipulated and layered fiddle and mandolin textures. Indeed, when the vocal finally emerges, the sound is at once rootsier and more unselfconsciously pop-flavored than the original — a finely-wrought, yet utterly organic illustration of Garrett’s own interpretive magic. And that feeling persists through the track’s shimmering six minutes of soulful singing, vivid saxophone-influenced fiddle passages and, always, irresistible groove.
More than an artificial yoking together of disparate elements, Jeremy Garrett’s “Magic” displays the musical force generated when a fearless artist not only reaches into different worlds, but does the hard and inspired work of bringing them into a convergence that reflects artistic integrity, deep personal belief — and, of course, the magic of love.
Listen to "Magic" HERE.
