3. White MagicThrough The Sun Door
I remember hearing the name Quixotic back in the day. They were everyone’s new favourite band. There were always stories of amazing line-ups, shows where every band that played was someone you’d want to see. The feedback from those nights was always the same: "Yeah, everyone was good, but that band Quixotic were amazing."
When I finally got a chance to see them it was the line-up with Mick Barr from Orthrelm on bass and I thought it was brilliant. The guitar playing was incredible and of course the singing was otherworldly. The thing that blew me away most next to the singing was Mira’s drumming. Her drum patterns, style and technique were so unique and enhanced each song.
Mira’s sense of rhythm can be heard in her supreme piano playing as White Magic, where her drumming skills are transposed into expressive piano lines and vocal rhythms. I’m trying not to do the obvious and just praise her singing, but it’s really impossible to ignore. Her voice sounds to me like if every human being that ever spoke was a solid state amplifier. Suddenly she sings and you hear, and practically SEE a bright red glowing tube amp giving off this hugely rich tone.
I’m not sure if Liars ever had the pleasure of playing on the same stage as White Magic but I have seen them a number of times. When this record came out we listened to it constantly. I wonder if someone that’s never heard of White Magic could listen to their cover of Nina Simone’s ‘Plain Gold Ring’ on this record and tell you what year it came out? It, and all the songs, sound timeless. All of the playing on this record is perfect, not one note superfluous.
Through The Sun Door was released in 2004 which was an interesting point in time for Liars. It was the last year we spent in New York before moving off to Berlin to write and record Drum’s Not Dead. White Magic were definitely our favourite band in the city at that time, as well as Blood On The Wall, whom Miggy Littleton also played drums for. This album was on my headphones during 3am runs in the snow to the all-night cyber cafe in Kreuzberg – clinging to some connection with the city I’d left behind. I think this record shares what’s common for all classic albums – that ability to transport you to places in your past, while invigorating you in the present to make the possibility of a brighter future more clear.
