Artists You Should Know: Magana

Magana — the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Jeni Magaña — has explored myriad paths that have shaped both her identity as an artist and the contours of her sound. The release of her latest album TEETH. serves as the culmination of that journey yet it’s far from the only collection in her catalog that will leave you helplessly spellbound: Magaña’s daring experimentalism exists as a cyclical theme across her solo offerings, inspired in no small part by the many artists she’s collaborated or performed with over the years.

Magaña’s interest in music was first piqued by watching her mother play piano. She found herself in awe of the skillful dexterity it took to play the instrument and the machinery that produced such sublime sounds. It didn’t take long for the adaptable utility of the multi-instrumentalist spirit within her to emerge: first learning how to play the clarinet, she eventually picked up the upright bass to accommodate the needs of her middle-school orchestra.

She got her start playing bass for artists like Will Knox and Annie and the Beekeepers — it would hardly be the last time she would do so. A pair of formative experiences arrived with her enlistment by virtuoso songwriter and musician Lady Lamb, whom she credits with broadening her structured approach, pointing to her candidly earnest lyrics and unbridled vocals as inspirations. As if that wasn’t enough, Magaña also went on a world tour with Mitski, performing with the rock powerhouse on late shows and at music festivals. You can also hear her on last month’s singles “Coyote, My Little Brother / Bufalo Replaced.”

Her solo project Magana was never so much on the back burner as it was absorbing everything and everyone she was surrounded by. In 2016 she released her debut EP Golden Tongue, a four-track collection of simmering and resounding indie-rock that revealed just how deep she was willing to cut with her fiercely intimate lyricism. Upon relocating from New York to Los Angeles she teamed up with Emily Moore to form the indie-pop duo pen pin — the change in scenery catalyzed further tweaks and shifts in her sound.

She followed it up with the new age enchantments of Breathing (2020), an iridescent and shimmering series of ambient tracks that speak to Magaña’s ear for architecting soundscapes. You Are Not a Morning Person came that year, revealing a new batch of urgently introspective and slow-burning rollickers. Even after just one playthrough, you’ll find yourself drawn mesmerically back to the paced rumblings of “Who Am I” and the yearning sway of “Jenny Don’t Leave.”

Recorded during the pandemic, TEETH. represents the nearest she’s come to conjuring a style she refers to as “witchy rock.” As the title suggests, the album explores the barriers that keep one from fully expressing what needs to be said, like words stuck behind a wall of pearly whites. Delivered with all the fierce vulnerability of an emotional reckoning, the songs “Matter” and “Paul” underscore the breadth of her newfound niche. One that soaks her lyrical confessionals in an at times blistering — and other times quietly lilting but not less devastating — a mix of acid rock and krautrock sonics.

The 14-track LP presents Magaña at her most darkly sublime. From the pained introspections of “Afraid of Everybody” to the transcendent anthem “Girl in Chains” — not to mention the ghostly beautiful instrumental interludes that fill the spaces in between — it is a record of staggering honesty and melodic ingenuity. If you’re a fan of brooding mercurial soundscapes, gale force vocals, and raptly blunt poetics akin to Mitski, St. Vincent, or Sharon Van Etten then this is right up your gloomy alley.

ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

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Words: Steven Ward

Visit Magana on her website and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.

Listen to TEETH. the new album from Magana below!