Magenta Ray turns rom-com chemistry into dark and cinematic rock on their latest track “A Kiss Like This” and they aren’t exactly going the quiet, tender approach. Instead, Magenta Ray ups the stakes of the classic crush by exploding their familiar blend of lush indie riffs, expansive guitar landscapes, ethereal vocals, and darkwave undertones into something dark, grand and cinematic, sounding as if an entire song came from the feeling you get when one innocent kiss destroys your capacity for logical thought.
While their influences such as Garbage and Portishead have a naturally moody feel, they manage to transform these elements with a guitar-heavy alt-rock sensibility. No, romancing aren’t the sort of thing to be tucked away below layers of sonic construction here; they remain at the epicenter in their full, tension-filled glory. Hart navigates the track shifting from contained low register phrases to more sprawling highs, all the while conveying an evolving arc of emotion without veering into theatricality and that’s essential.
“A Kiss Like This” is undeniably dramatic in its themes, but romance is inherently dramatic. anyone who’s rehashed a single conversation more than once has learned this fact one time or another. Guitarist Mark Larson sets the atmosphere of the track, bouncing around between soaring lead and crashing rhythm as he makes room for Hart’s presence.
Overall, it’s a beautifully executed hybrid track somewhere between alt-rock, dark pop, synth-indie, dream pop, with all the right kind of catchy hooks and shadowy edges to keep things from sounding like bland radio fare. Over four and a half minutes of run time, “A Kiss Like This” repeatedly returns to one single moment.
The circular nature works because not just presented as one moment in an intimate exchange, however the narrator dissects and examines one interaction endlessly, returning again and again, trying to grasp the reality of it all.
That’s where all the shadowy texture and cinematic influences of the guitars come into play perfectly; because they make the romance feel less like an earthly event, almost more dreamlike, ethereal and ultimately dangerous in how deeply it envelops its protagonist. Instead of attempting to tame love, they just lean into its potentially devastating power. Magenta Ray’s “A Kiss Like This” is the embodiment of the variety of love. Some loves are gentle. Some are ephemeral. Some kiss alters brain chemistry. Take a guess which is the best.
Follow Magenta Ray
About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for various publications around the world, the former lead writer of review blogspace Atop The Treehouse and content creator for Manila Bulletin.
