Canadian four-piece Dizzy have shared a new version of their single The Magician remixed by LA Priest, the pseudonym of Late of the Pier founder Sam Eastgate. Its dark, glitchy electronic production turns the track on its head, chopping and skewering Katie’s vocals to create an ominous but compelling new sound and mirroring the disjointedness of grief. Listen to the reworking via YouTube below.
The Magician sees singer Katie Munshaw grapple with grief over the death of a close friend. “To me, The Magician reeks of naivety and innocence in a way that really hurts my heart,” she explains. “Hoping she’ll walk into my gig at the local pub, hoping to see her mom at Sobeys just to remember how similar their laughs were. Hoping for magic.”
It follows lead single Sunflower which has garnered support from BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders and Radio X’s John Kennedy, and has boosted the band’s total streams to close to 25 million. The four-piece recently completed a UK tour alongside Oh Wonder, having previously toured with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie and Tokyo Police Club. Their debut album ‘Baby Teeth’ won the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in 2019 and garnered international praise from the likes of The Times, Beats 1, NME and Stereogum, who described the music as “a dreamier update of Lorde’s sleek, minimalist pop-rock.”
Recorded at Quebec’s Mechanicland Studios and in Munshaw’s mother’s basement, ‘The Sun and Her Scorch’ was produced by Dizzy and mixed by Craig Silvey (Arcade Fire, Florence + The Machine). Describing their recording process as “totally challenging and completely rewarding,” the band took an entirely self-directed approach to every aspect of the album’s creation, introducing a more kinetic energy into their sound through their lavish use of live instrumentation. Taping into their increased sense of closeness and confidence, the band brings its truth-telling to confessions of insecurity, resentment and fear of failure.
Of ‘The Sun and Her Scorch,’Munshaw says, “Baby Teeth was all about the confusion and sadness of my late teens, but this one is more about the qualities about myself that I’m not very proud of. I wanted to be completely honest about the things nobody ever wants to admit, like being jealous of your friends or pushing away the people who love you. So instead of being about romantic heartbreak, it’s really about self-heartbreak.”
Though they formed in 2015, Dizzy’s origins lie in the longtime friendship between Munshaw and the band’s drummer Charlie Spencer, who met in ninth-grade math class and later sang together in the school choir. Upon graduating high school, the two decided to sidestep the university path and start a band, enlisting Charlie’s siblings Mackenzie (bass) and Alex (guitar) and getting their start gigging in local bars. After playing one of their very first shows in Toronto, Dizzy landed a deal with Royal Mountain Records.
‘Baby Teeth’ was Dizzy’s coming of age story, set in the dense suburban sprawl of their hometown Oshawa, ON. Their influences and lyrics were both personal and universal in a way that could speak to anyone who has dealt with the anxieties of small-town ennui. The album won the Juno Award for “Alternative Album of the Year” in 2019 while the group found ‘Baby Teeth’ included on the Polaris Music Prize 2019 Long List. The band has since toured with the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Oh Wonder, Tokyo Police Club and U.S. Girls.
‘The Sun And Her Scorch’ track list
1. Worms
2. Sunflower
3. Good and Right
4. The Magician
5. Beatrice
6. Roman Candles
7. Lefty
8. Primrose Hill
9. Daylight Savings Time
10. Ten
11. Worms II
‘The Sun And Her Scorch’ is out on July 31st via Royal Mountain Records. It‘s available for pre-order here.
