exmagician - Kiss That Wealth Goodbye

The 2011 album "To The Death of Fun" by Cashier No.9 is a record that we were incredibly fond of, one which is simultaneously one of the best albums of the last five years, as well as being serious contenders for our favourite all-time album to come from Northern Ireland ("Eyes Open" and "Rocky" would be two of the other serious contenders). The album rode the wave of psychedelic-sounding rock years before it went semi-mainstream again, and choosing a favourite track it proved difficult, seeing as it changed every day (although two of the standouts were "Oh Pity", which gained quite a bit of traction on 6music, and "The Lighthouse Will Lead You Out", which I used as my ringtone for a good year, and even now ranks on our list of greatest outro to a song ever).

Unfortunately "To The Death Of Fun" would prove to be the band's only studio album, as the band eventually went their separate ways, officially disbanding earlier this year. However, for devastated fans of the Niners, there are three bits of good news that you can take solace from. The first piece of news is that two of the creative forces behind that band, Daniel Todd and James Smith, are now recording under the name exmagician.

The second piece of good news is that like Cashier No.9 before them, exmagician have been signed to the Bella Union record label. Bella Union is perhaps most famous for being the label of Fleet Foxes, although in recent years they have also notched up success with albums from Beach House, John Grant & Father John Misty, so having the support of such a well regarded label will no doubt give the duo the needed push to get their new project off the ground.

And the third, final, and best piece of news? The band have just unveiled their debut single, "Kiss That Wealth Goodbye". It's not a major departure from the sound of their former band, with the song following the same psychedelic blueprint that made us fall in love with them in the first place. It's a more electronic than what they've done before, and there's more plinky-plonk pianos sounds than you might expect, but it still remains a great spiritual successor to their forebearing band.

It will be interesting to see whether "Kiss That Wealth Goodbye" is going to be a gateway between the sound that fans of Cashier No.9 might expect and a new, unfamiliar territory that the duo will explore in future releases, or whether it will set the template for what to expect on the rest of the E.P. Either way, we are very excited to have exmagicians in our lives, and hope that the rest of their material can live up to our first taste of them.

"Kiss That Wealth Goodbye" is the lead track from exmagician's debut E.P, which will be released on November 20th.