Well the sun is shining and so it seems are the gods. Things have been going really well recently and i'd like to update you all.

First of all Tom Robinson, the doyen of BBC6 Music Introducing played us on his show again few weeks ago and said some lovely things like 'if there's another band in the world that uses the bass clarinet so innovativly then i havne't heard of them. Fantastic, we love them here'. Massive thanks to Rachel who recommended us!

Also, you will notice that there are two new recordings up on the page. They're two songs that we don't do with the whole band but that i like to play solo. Recently, as some of you will have seen, i've been playing with Zac Gvi, multiinstrumentalist and all round amazing guy. Anyway, i hope you dig them, i feel they compliment the band recordings on here by showing a slightly more direct side of The Magic Lantern experience.

On the recordings front, we've recorded somebody told me and are just waiting to get it mastered then we'll unlesh is on you all! We're recording the 3 part of the Romeo and Juliet trilogy on saturady which will go as a B-side on the single so stay tuned, as there will be lots of new songs comign up here in the next month or so.

Finally, i'm really pleased to say that we'll be playing at Secret Garden Party this summer as well as doing some other realy nice festivals so hope to see you there. Our next London show is this comign sunday june 7th at Union Chapel Bar with Emily Barker and Endings so hope to see you there!

lots of love

Jamie and The Magic Lantern
www.myspace.com/themagiclantern x

Ok, three very awesome things that have happened recently  that i'd like you to be a part of.
Firstly, the solo session I recorded live on South City Radio is now available to listen directly off their website at www.southcityradio.org the show i'm on is called 'The Primer' which you can find pretty easily. Big thanks to Joe and Jimmie of Pat and Trevor fame who asked me down, definitly check out their 10 minute section at the end. Also, thanks to Ben Perry who presents The Primer, he's an awesome guy, a wicked presenter and he's asked us back to play with the full band for the next show which will be on FM, so stay tuned!!
Secondly, our first full magazine feature came out the other day in UK/US/Romanian Culture magazine 'Omagiu'. It's one of those ultra hip expensive coffee table type magazine and remarkably, thanks to Claudia Ciobanu, we're in it. You can buy your copy from Borders on Oxford st or some shops in east london otherwise you should be able to check it out online at www.omagiu.com (although the old edition is still up at the moment, i think they need to update it....).
Thirdly, we've just finished recording our debut single 'Somebody Told Me' and hope to have it out sometime in may/june. Big thanks to Dave De Rose for his patience on that one.
Awesome, the lantern's shining bright
big love
Jamie and The Magic Lantern xxx

Friends!
Just a small note to say that we're playing the very lovely Vortex tonight in Dalston. It's going to be a sweet gig, very intimate and we hope to show case some new songs. Also playing is Mishka Adams, a more than amazing vocalist and her inimitable band. We're on at 8 30 so get down there fast! It's been recommended in Timeout so if you'd like to hear what they say, find it here!

hopefully see you all tonight!
love Jamie and the Magic Lantern x

Happy New Year!! Just a short note to wish all Magic Lantern followers a happy new year and to give you a little update on where we're at right now. As the keen among you will have realised we've had a short break over christmas and the new year as i've been traveling and seeing family in australia. Fear not however! I come back on the 30th of january and as i hope you can see, we have some great shows lined up for february and beyond. More generally this year we're hoping to record our debut album and to go on some kind of tour this summer (more details on that soon!). We're going to try and get onto some festival bills as well so stay tuned. Sometime this january the new edition of Omagiu is coming out and we have a feature in it so make sure to pick your copy up! Hope that 2009 is full of promise and look forward to seeing you at a show sometime soon love Jamie and The Magic Lantern x

Good news!!

The good folk at The Stool Pigeon kindly reviewed our EP in the autumn edition and they said some wicked things:

"The Magic Lantern are four jazz and classical musicians fusing folk and jazz to make some of the loveliest music i have heard this year. Lead singer Jamie Doe's vocals sound like a cross between Sufjen Stevens, Jeff Buckley and Bell and Sebastians's Stuart Murdoch. Definitely check out their captivating and hazily dreamy 'Patriots' EP."

- Ash Sosanjh, The Stool Pigeon

I'm pleased to tell the lucky few of you who pass by this page that we got our first national radio play the other night on Tom Robinson's BBC6 music show on saturday night/sunday morning. He played 'Patriots' off the EP and said some very nice things about it too! You can listen again to the program by following the link below. We were the last track he played on the show so if you want to cut straight to the Magic Lantern chase then skip to the last 6 mins. Yeah!

love

Jamie x

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00drm80

The Magic Lantern - The Vortex 17th September 2008

"The Magic Lantern are a quintet ­ completed by percussionist Fred Thomas, bass clarinettist Dave Shulman, electric guitarist Phil Stevenson and cellist Lucy Railton ­ playing the compositions of acoustic guitarist Jamie Doe, and they have an immediately arresting sound, courtesy chiefly of the wholehearted head-back-and-emote singing of Doe himself, but also of the telling range of textures available from the various combinations of instruments in the band.

They operate in the fertile hinterland between jazz and folk, Doe's and Stevenson's guitars providing the mainly folk-based accompaniment while Shulman and Railton embellish as required by Doe's subtle, often rather dark, lyrics.

Thus a reference to a (metaphorical) sinking boat might spark off an all-hands-on-deck arhythmic scramble, or a fanciful song about post-apocalyptic refuges in space an appropriately ethereal cymbal whoosh ­ but these are just the trimmings; what really impresses about the Magic Lantern are Doe's songs, the idiosyncratic power of his lyrics and the fervour of his delivery of them.

Those unfortunate enough to have missed this performance should check out the band's e.p., Patriots (see CD Reviews)."

- Chris Parker, The Vortex

http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/vortex-gig-reviews.html

The Magic Lantern - Patriots EP

"Look this quintet up on the Web (The Magic Lantern) and you'll find 'Alternative/Acoustic Folk' flashing up, and it's as good a broad description as any of their approach.

Formed around the singer/songwriter skills of acoustic guitarist Jamie Doe, the band can draw on an extraordinary range of sounds and textures to emphasise the meanings, bring out all the subtleties of his lyrics, for in addition to the relatively conventional finger-picked guitar played by Doe, the Magic Lantern also contains a cellist (Lucy Railton), a bass clarinettist (Dave Shulman), a percussionist doubling on organ and cavaço (Fred Thomas) and an electric guitarist (Ben Moorehouse).

Doe's songs, sung in a refreshingly full-throated, but light and flexible tenor voice, are deceptively jaunty, their catchy melodies employing wide intervallic leaps and set to infectious rhythms, but listen to them closely and you'll find that any passing resemblance to, say, the Incredible String Band is strictly superficial: just as Robin Williamson, Mike Heron & Co. were products of their time in their basically life-affirming spaced-out reveries drawing on a ragbag of Eastern philosophies, the Magic Lantern are very much products of the twenty-first century, their songs dealing with post-apocalyptic refuges in space ('A Man and His Dog'), the corrupting effects of capitalism ('Gotta Get Paid') and the apparent impossibility of belief and belonging ('Patriots' and 'Heading Home', the latter, indeed, containing a chilling reference to a 'tattoo beneath the sleeve').

Warmly recommended, especially to anyone who thinks meaningful eccentricity and sheer originality are rare commodities in contemporary music. "

Chris Parker, The Vortex

http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/cd-reviews/patriots.html

Friends,

Our debut EP will be launched this monday 14th July! I've taken a few of the tracks from the EP off our page to give the launch a bit more of a sense of anticipation. From monday you'll be able to buy the EP for £4 using the paypal service on our page and in a week you'll be able to buy songs off iTunes. You'll also be able to pick up a copy if you come to the launch gig. The details:

The Magic Lantern: Patriots e.p.

The Oxford, 256 Kentish Town Rd, London

8.30pm, £5.

We've got some amazing support from Olivia Chaney and our very own Ben Moorhouse who played all the electric guitar on the ep and is now with london's finest power trio, Golden Silvers. It's going to be an amazing night so get there early! Also, if you take any photos or write it up on any blogs we'd love to know so we can link it to our page and represent for all your hard work. Thanks very much and hope to see you on monday,

love

Jamie and The Magic Lantern x

Friends!

After many obstacles, most of them small and irritating, and a few amazing days and evenings, i'm proud to announce that our debut EP, Patriots is now up on the page for you to listen to. There are four songs on the cd that regular Magic Lantern fans will recognise from gigs. They are:

A man and his dog
Gotta' get paid
Patriots
Heading Home

The hardcopy is going to be beautiful with a cover painting by Chloe Paul and design by Janci. The release date is the 14th July where we hope to have the amazing Oliva Chaney and the sublime This is the kit in support. The venue is The Oxford in Kentish town and the night is hosted by North London's hottest jazz collective, Loop. I'm hoping that the EP will open a few more doors for us and get our music to a wider audience. There's a chance it'll get some radio play and i'm confident i'll get it reviewed in a few papers and magazines. Any and all assistence is gratefully appreciated and will be rewarded with good cheer, love and songs. Until the hardcopies come out you can download Patriots. Hope you enjoy the new recordings and that you're all well. The more we play the more we realise that it's about being honest and true and sharing what you can with whoever's listening. I hope that's you.

as ever

Jamie and The Magic Lantern x