Double Magic

fter a decade of releasing music as Sunbeam Sound Machine, Melbourne multi-instrumentalist and producer Nick Sowersby continues to mine rich seams of soft-focus psych. His fourth album adds saxophone—which he learned to play during lockdown—as well as bird sounds and other field recordings he captured while biking around town. There’s also a new rhythmic component in drummer Lochy Funston and percussionist Rhys Grunden, while the lyrics often take inspiration from both the natural world and Sowersby’s domestic roles as father and partner. Nailing down a vocal line that had been bouncing around his head for years, “Dandelion” draws upon the birth of his daughter. Similarly, the opening “Waterfall (Strange Gravity)” features a guitar loop he recorded a decade prior and forgot all about. With its springy bassline and playful New Age flourishes, that track sets the tone for this meditative yet danceable album. Sowersby includes some specific nods to locations from his past and present too: “Kananook” is a sax-forward instrumental named after the creek that ran behind his childhood home, and the friskier “Tempo Video” borrows its title from an Italian DVD rental shop in suburban Melbourne. Sowersby stretches out most on the nearly nine-minute “Career Year,” mulling over concepts of ambition and quality of life against radiant warmth.