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Feb 01, 2024 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Ana Ross

Meija, the solo project of former Echosmith guitarist Jamie Sierota, debuted last year with his first album, Do Ya? Since that record’s release, Sierota has been in the studio writing another record with a series of collaborators. He quickly shared a pair of new singles last year, “POSSUM” and “MATADOR,” the former of which featured E, lead singer of indie rock vets The Eels. Today, meija is back with another collaborative single, “MAGIC,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“MAGIC” works in a scrawl of hazy melodies and bleary optimism, pairing inviting rhythms with spacious guitar tones and starry oscillating synths. The drums anchor the track while the melodies stay loose and sprawling, matching the laconic slacker lull in Sierota’s vocals. Similarly, the record’s lyrics are also a work of contrasts, meditating on life’s lowest moments while trying to hold on to a hopeful undercurrent: “Cause when it all goes wrong you can lose it all but still win if you can find / All the magic in everything / Whether this is all a lie or a story that I’m still finding out the meaning.”

The track also features fellow indie singer/songwriter JAWNY. He says of the track, “Me and Meija have worked together on music together for years now and it was inevitable that one day we would do something together. We had a loose idea that we were gonna collaborate on a song together for the next Meija record but nothing had happened naturally yet. One day while in the studio on a break, I asked Jamie if he wouldn’t mind sharing some song ideas from his next record with me. The second I heard the first bounce idea of ‘MAGIC,’ I knew this was the song we needed to collaborate on.”

Sierota says of the track, “‘MAGIC’ is probably the most autobiographical song I’ve ever written. Verse 1 basically sums up the last ten years of my life. At its core, it’s a song about trying to find the beauty in the everyday. Even in my hardest times, there’s always been something good. I just haven’t always looked for it.

I’ve worked with JAWNY a lot on his project. I played him ‘MAGIC’ when we were in the studio one day, and we started talking about the song and what magic meant to him. It then felt like an obvious choice to put that conversation we just had in the song with a verse sung by him.”

He continues, explaining of the video, “I’m starting to share a bigger story arc with this video. It picks up a few days after ‘POSSUM’ and will fit into a bigger narrative that’s tied to the whole project. Redamo and I always had this idea for making up a cult for the video. I liked the idea of playing with the dynamic of someone trying to gatekeep ‘enlightenment’ or ‘salvation.’ I think everyone’s journey with spirituality is highly individual, and anyone saying otherwise is trying to sell you something.”

Check out the song and video below, out now via Nettwerk.