Magic Shoppe
Doppelganger/s.f.o.
Based in Boston and inspired by The Velvet Underground, My Bloody Valentine and other drone-laden, feedback-and-fuzz-loving bands, Magic Shoppe have offered up their own heady concoction of dark, dreamy, shoegaze psychedelia on four EPs and four full-length albums over the past eight years, including 2019's 'Circles' LP. Coincidentally yet appropriately labeling their reverb-heavy sound as "hypnotic," Magic Shoppe's single for Hypnotic Bridge leads off with A-side 'Doppelgänger,' a song originally titled 'Salventius' after the Dutch artist known for his "single-line" drawings of faces. Shelved from an earlier project, the name 'Doppelgänger' was actually suggested by Salventius, given it's a sort of "double" for the original concept for the song. Songwriter and lead guitarist Josiah Webb used three fuzz pedals (with a "fully cocked wah" at the end) with tones turned to pure treble for the fuzz. The ending riff is a nod to Roger McGuinn: highly compressed, clean and with maximum treble, creating a tone that evokes The Byrds' 'Eight Miles High.' Not a reference to San Francisco's airport but, rather, an acronym for 'Skintight Futuristic Outfit,' 'S.F.O.' was conceived and tracked in a single session. The band originally intended to play the song quickly, then reverse it completely, possibly adding forward overdubs, but after hearing the results decided to give it more of a "split-brain" dynamic. The first part of the song is played normally, but after some intentional audio degradation (and Vox Cheetah/Fender Twin amp feedback), descends into a total reverse copy of the beginning, with the exception of a forwards vocal overdub.