Magic Trick

Tim Cohen, frontman of the Fresh & Onlys, leads Magic Trick, a band shaped by '60s psychedelia and '70s folk. The project originated in San Francisco as Cohen's solo vehicle during gaps in his other group's touring schedule, producing the albums The Two Sides of Tim Cohen, Laugh Tracks, and Tim Cohen's Magic Trick from 2009 through 2011. To bring the material onstage, Cohen recruited James Kim of Kelley Stoltz, Alicia Vanden Heuvel of the Aislers Set, and Noelle Cahill, after which Magic Trick solidified into a permanent ensemble. Its debut full-length, The Glad Birth of Love, appeared on Empty Cellar in 2011 and contained four extended pieces marked by Cohen's rich lyrical detail alongside textures that moved from acoustic blues through dense ragas to rich vocal layers. Later the same year Captured Tracks issued the Bad Blood EP. The band switched to Hardly Art for its second album, Ruler of the Night, released in June 2012, then returned to Empty Cellar late in 2013 with the third album, River of Souls. Half Man Half Machine, a more exploratory work issued in 2015 on Spiritual Pajamas as a pair of tracks each exceeding fifteen minutes, preceded Other Man's Blues, which brought the group back to Empty Cellar the following year.