Chicago’s Magical Beasts are a rising indie collective whose main focus is to bring unvarnished folk music to modern ears. Drenched somewhere between Appalachian tradition and the contemporary roots of artists like Beirut and Run Boy Run, their music is all at once familiar and almost unusually fresh. The band is currently a little under halfway through with a crowdfunding campaign to press their latest EP and LP on vinyl. Ahead of its completion, Magical Beasts are sharing two singles—one from the LP Peninsula, and another from EP When Love’s a Stranger.
From Peninsula comes “Learning and Forgetting”. Featuring hushed instrumentation with a horn highlight, the stripped-back vibe of the song’s structure allows frontman Nathan Paulus to inhabit it more fully with his tender grit.
From When Love’s a Stranger, “Someone to Lift the Blue” delves more into a personal landscape as Paulus rambles alongside sweeping dobro and fiddle, uncannily tight harmonies between bandmates sealing the deal on the track.
Both songs feature emotionally evocative, thought-provoking compositions and arrangements that feel as meticulously designed as they are heartfelt. Fans of Magical Beasts’ sound are in for a treat when their vinyl release debuts later this year.