Hailing from Santa Cruz comes Magic Waters. The project is the brainchild of singer/songwriter/musician Ryan Lee with an expansive retrofied sound and style, rife with gorgeous melodies within its eased delivery. But we tend to get a bit ahead of ourselves.

Lee is a multiinstrumentalist that plays guitar, bass, and drums which eventually allowed him to play and perform in bands in New York as well as where he currently lives in Santa Cruz, CA. This is where Lee set up roots to create his studio he named Paradise Garage within the space of his backyard. It’s here where he set off to record songs for the Pinky Swear E.P. (Gold Robot Records), set for release on March 27th. Of course, lazy scribes would want everyone to attributed the sound of Magic Waters as direct music lineage of slacker-induced indie rockers but there’s no relation. It’s just good music with crunchy guitars, a deep bottom-end, with melodies and harmonies.

Magic Waters shares the title track off the E.P. and of course, there’s no doubt in my mind that this one will get stuck in your head as easily as it did mine. “Pinky Swear” is just that good.

Of the new EP, Ryan Lee offers this:

“This EP starts off with a song about visualization.  It’s also a reminder to myself that the best way to make things happen is to start with dreaming it up because conceptual plans that my wife and I made back even before we were dating came true to a tee.  The next two touch on politics.  The single, and title track, is bi-polar. The verses are about the negativity and corruption in politics, but the choruses and outro speak to the bright future being laid out by all of our country’s strong women leaders.  I start the outro by listing three of the strongest women in my life…Gina, Rosita, and Abuelita, referencing my wife, mom, and grandma.  Then, I go on to call out by name other women leaders who I look up to and am incredibly grateful for. The EP and single are called Pinky Swear with a nod to Elizabeth Warren’s tradition of making pinky promises with young women so they never forget that running for president is what girls do.  I love that.”

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