Music / Premieres
Premiere:
Muma Ganoush - Fish Magic
Words by Lulu Spencer
Monday 2nd March, 2020
Today we’ve been blessed with a charming debut track from Muma Ganoush - with a backdrop of jangling guitars and swirling synths, ‘Fish Magic’ is a curious tune that masterfully lulls us into a timeless underwater world.
After garnering attention over the past year with their dynamic and enigmatic tunes, Muma Ganoush are making their debut with ‘Fish Magic’, the first release off their much anticipated LP that will be dropping this year. The band is comprised of some of Melbourne’s much-loved familiar faces, who have been part of bands such as Zoe Fox and the Rocket Clocks, Gena Rose Bruce, Easy Browns and Dexy Oscillator. It is evident that this all-star lineup brings their experience and skills to create dynamic, and just down right interesting, music.

Inspired by Paul Klee and his 1920 painting which the song title references, ‘Fish Magic’ evokes a sense of the timeless world that exists underwater. The track is truly captivating - after opening into a somewhat discordant dreamscape, we’re taken on a journey through its twists and turns, engendered by the songs well considered chord progression and rhythm. According to lead singer Shelby Wilton, ‘Fish Magic’ is “about wanting to take your time, getting lost in small things and enjoying yourself”, followed by “that real looming feeling of the ticking clock, like there isn’t enough time to feel timeless”. Excuse me for a minute while I just have an existential crisis.

Okay, back. A pivotal element in the song’s narrative is that it is made up of two verses, each one contrasting the other. In the first verse, “the fish represents the timeless feeling like in the Paul Klee painting, then in the second verse, the friend represents the clock” and the judgement that it evokes. All in all, as Shelby divulges, “the song is about trying to find the balance between the two things. letting yourself be aloof but still getting shit done without judging yourself for it, and not judging other people with their processes” because “it’s easy to find yourself on either sides of the stick”.

What we have all learned today is that ‘Fish Magic’ is the first of some seriously exciting things to come from Muma Ganoush. And while it might be better to not think too much about that unforgiving clock, it'd be worth keeping track of the time to catch Muma Ganoush as they launch the single at the Grace Darling later this week.

Check out 'Fish Magic' above, and catch Muma Ganoush launching the new single this Thursday, March 5th, at the Grace Darling.