Magana
Introducing Brooklyn’s Magana, who just released a minimalist cover of CHUCK’s “Oceans” that resonates with all those sublime echoes from summers & holiday’s past (stowed away in the scattered-scrapbook shoeboxes of our minds). Available today from Audio Antihero, Jeni Magana arrives armed with an electric guitar where every note clings like the morning mist descending upon plant leafs as the the somber & reflective tones spill forth with the accompaniment of Magana’s earnest & heart-felt delivery.
The stripped-down arrangement approach of Magana’s take on “Oceans” whittles down the narratives & descriptive pieces of CHUCK’s original to it’s most raw emotive chords. Jeni’s delivery is rich with an emotive quality the mulls over the narratives like reading texts from discarded phones used previously where exchanges with missed-ones from the past bring thoughts & feelings to the front-lines & forefront of consciousness. The chorus refrain of pretty young girls, oceans of sound, it’s so annoying, when you’re not around trails ahead with the vague sepia-splashed filters of recollection that age our thoughts like yellowing photographs from the past.
Jeni Magana shared the following insights on covering “Oceans”:
I think the fun of covers lies in changing the context of the song to pull out and highlight the parts that resonate with me. I wanted the focus in this cover to be on the sincerity of the lyrics. Who hasn’t been in the situation of missing someone or something while life seems to go on around you? I felt like I was privy to the internal dialogue of a stranger, and I wanted to keep that feeling of intimacy that I had while listening to the original. So the most important part was getting the delivery to match the meaning of the words: simple, honest, and a little lonely. Adding much more to it seemed like it would diminish the meaning of the song, and so even though I tried a few different things I ended up taking most of it out to leave room.
Magana’s cover of “Oceans” is availble now from Audio Antihero Records. Catch Magana playing Brooklyn’s Secret Project Robot with CHUCK, Frog & Soft Yes on September 6.
