| Tragic Magic | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Madder Rose |
| Cover: | Tragic Magic.jpg |
| Released: | 1997 |
| Label: | Atlantic[1] |
| Producer: | Billy Coté |
| Prev Title: | Panic On |
| Prev Year: | 1994 |
| Next Title: | Hello June Fool |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
Tragic Magic, also stylized as tragicmagic, is an album by the American band Madder Rose, released in 1997.[2] [3] The band promoted the album by touring with Junior Cottonmouth.[4]
The album was produced by bandmember Billy Coté, who also wrote most of the lyrics.[5] It was Madder Rose's first album with bass player Chris Giammalvo. The band added elements of funk and hip hop to its sound.[6] Later editions of the album contain different opening tracks, "Narco" and "Jailbird".[7]
Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album "is frustratingly half-baked and suffers from near-funereal pacing... Fortunately, Mary Lorson's lighter-than-air vocals counter even the most sedative of tracks." The Washington Post thought that "the melodies are sturdy... It's tunes like 'Hung Up in You', more than the revisited folk-hop sound, that provides most of the album's appeal."[8] The Los Angeles Daily News praised the "innovative, bass-heavy sound and standout songs." The Republican opined that "the seductive grooves of 'My Star', and the mildly appealing '(She's a) Satellite', are two of the only salvageable moments here."
The Dayton Daily News stated: "Sometimes laid-back jazzy, sometimes spacey coffeehouse pop, always lyrically introspective, there really isn't a bad cut here."[9] Guitar Player called Coté a "vibey and tasteful popster," writing that he "dials in a music store's worth of tones-pristine arpeggios, scritchy wah washes, fuzzy flashbacks, surf solos, hypnotic noir motifs."[5]
AllMusic wrote that, "as if to signal that they were still hip, Madder Rose incorporated heavy elements of trip-hop on Tragic Magic, and while that gambit failed for some of their peers, the band manages to blend the dance and guitar-pop well."