MAGANA — ‘BAD NEWS’

Writer’s Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best known as the current bassist and backing vocalist for Mitski, multi-instrumentalist and photographer Jeni Magaña is also one half of pop duo Pen Pin, and has previously worked with Lady Lamb. Her new solo EP Bad News follows her LP ‘Teeth’, released in March last year, and comprises of four tracks. It has been described by Magaña herself as “cosy core” and “winter pop”.

Bad News is Magaña’s most stripped back, raw and vulnerable work to date - a dream-like ethereal quality runs through all four tracks, and to describe them as cosy feels a little reductive when considering the intricacy of the music and quality and content of the lyrics. This is an album of relationships gone wrong, of love and loss, of loneliness and heartbreak, and you can hear these emotions so clearly in Magaña’s voice; gentle but powerful all at once.

The EP begins with ‘Half to Death’, layering instruments one on top of the other to build a beautifully melancholic landscape, topped with Magaña’s soft vocals. The ethereal qualities almost disguise the haunting lyrics “I’m still drowning in dread”, and “I can’t forget what I saw in your eyes”. This is a tale of a relationship gone wrong; one that scares her half to death. Cosy it is not.

Next, we have ‘Hold On’, and again the layering of sounds gives the music a dream-like quality. It starts simply, one note held until the vocals begin, then a softly melancholic guitar joins in, followed by strings and then keyboards. Over this gentle euphony, Magaña sings poignantly of holding on, of doing anything to make things work, of feeling “so lonely I could die”.

The vocals on ‘Shower Song’ have a more uplifting quality, which juxtaposes with the lyrical description of the dying embers of a relationship, where the other person feels like a stranger. The moving, wistful lyrics are reflected in the music, which ebbs and flows, sometimes holding back to let the vocals be front and centre.

‘I’m Not Doing Anything’ is, for me, a case of saving the best til last. This is the track that stayed with me long after the first listen. Another layered, instrumentally rich track, there’s something simultaneously low-key but subtly catchy about the gentle melodies. The steady drum beat and the repetition of lyrics really get under the skin in a way that the other tracks don’t, and as soon as it ends you find you want to listen again.

On the face of it, this seems like a sweet, cosy offering from Magaña but after a few listens you find the wistful, vulnerable, poignant music really seeping in, and staying with you for days.