LUCIDMEDIA

Magnolius: A Random Punch to the Face

Written by Emily Santos Tuesday, 22 September 2009 11:01

There is a lot that can be said about a musician who makes it their duty to be involved with every minute detail of the “biz”. From concert shows, album covers, website designs, and of course, the music – it is all equally important to Toronto-based hip-hop duo, Magnolius.

Describing their music off the bat as “a random punch to the face,” Shan Vincent de Paul and Derek DaCosta have independently headlined on stages across the world, travelling to Asia, Europe and to their favourite spot so far, Brazil. The boys confess to working hard over the past year to secure a fairly large fan base outside of Canada. But now, in light of their new album release, they have come back home to Toronto to revisit long time Magnolius lovers and to meet new fans.

The road to musical success began in 2003 with the release of their EP, Test the Waters. The jazzy/electronic EP created a large hype in Toronto and received airplay on a variety of college radio stations.

Two years later, the pair dropped their highly anticipated debut Ode to Hyde, nowthe duo have finally finished work on their second full-length release, Mary Musth. The boys began working on this album in 2007, right after the release of Ode and since then, DaCosta and de Paul have been working tirelessly over the past two years to create something new and fresh.

“With this [album] we traveled across Asia, says de Paul. “We traveled in Brazil. We did two tours and we did once across Canada. So these are three tours that we did while conceptualizing and writing and doing all that stuff for this album.”

“The process of recording this album and writing it and just putting it all together was just kind of like scrambled up. It was all over the place as opposed to our first album where we literally centered ourselves in a room, in a studio, and front to back finished it, wrote it, conceptualized – everything!”

De Paul also adds that the new album tells a very unique story. He says the songs were placed in a specific order on the album for a specific purpose. “This is definitely a project where you want to listen,” he explains. “I know many people don’t do it anymore but it is best to take it in from front to back; from the very first bar to the last bar. We wrote it like that. There is a story. There is a climax.”

The long overdue album was dropped earlier this month and has already received rave reviews around the world from fans and critics alike. It’s been hailed by the UK’s Rant Magazine as “quick-witted” and it’s been said the boys behind the music “refuse to be held back by any of those ‘conventional’ barriers,’” by New York’s Race Magazine.

Regardless, the boys still chose to party it up at home for the official release of Mary Musth. Toronto jammed with the pair and showed their pride for the Canadian classic hip-hoppers at The Wrong Bar on Queen Street.

DaCosta and de Paul managed to keep busy and on their toes prior to the show, adding the finishing touches to their stage set and hanging tight for audio checks. The boys personally designed their set, from the vibrant red fabrics on the wall, to the abstract photographic images placed on vintage chairs, they made sure their esthetic vision came to life.

“We can do this ourselves,” says de Paul. “You don’t realize you’re in the music business until we go on tour and we’re like, ‘damn, we just did this whole tour ourselves.’ We booked it, we performed [and] we dealt with everything in terms of management [and] in terms of creativity.”

Magnolius’ new album, Mary Musth, is now available to buy. To listen to audio clips from the new release visit their website at magnolius.com. DaCosta and de Paul promise the album is a constant flow of energy and listeners can expect “a straight punch to the face!” Metaphorically speaking, of course.