As a music fan, you know how it is when your friends know you so well that when they hear a band or a song, they immediately tell you about it, hoping that it’ll be right up your alley. Back in 2020, my buddy Anton messaged me and said, “Don, I’ve found you a new favorite band” and sent me a link to a band out of Barcelona called Magick Brother & Mystic Sister.
At a time when psych rock music started to become doom metal, singing about smoking weed, Magick Brother & Mystic Sister was a much-needed breath of fresh air. Their self-titled debut album was a total face-melting banger from front to back, paving the way for one of the greatest psychedelic rock journeys I have taken in a very long time.
In 2024, Magick Brother & Mystic Sister released their much-anticipated follow-up Tarot Part I to overwhelming critical acclaim from journalists and music lovers all over the world. Magick Brother & Mystic Sister have released not one but TWO new albums in 2024, and I can’t think of a more exciting band to do so.
I have also been blessed to have become good friends with lead vocalist/instrumentalist Eva Muntada. Along with her partner Xavi Sandoval, these two are the creative nucleus of Magick Brother & Mystic Sister. With them residing in Barcelona and a slight language barrier, I wanted to interview them. To make it easier, we did it via E-Mail, and I loved seeing their answers to my pressing questions.
Eva and Xavi, Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. I wanted to start by asking about your sound. Swedish bands seem to have a sound, as do Finnish bands. Spain has quite an active music scene, with music similar to MBMS. Where did the root of this style of music come from?
I guess you are referring to groups from the 70s. Particularly in Barcelona in that decade, there were fantastic progressive rock and jazz bands with which we felt identified, but above all, the root of this style comes from the English influence of bands with the Canterbury sound like King Crimson, Soft Machine, Gong, etc.
If you mean our style, it has been developing with the songs, and it is the result of our experiences with that psychedelic side with influences from other styles of music.
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Eva told me once that sometimes people ask you guys the same questions repeatedly. What is a question you get asked so much that it makes you tired of answering?
All questions are welcome, it is normal that some are more repetitive, but we do not mind
answering… although sometimes, for example, it is difficult to give an answer about the bands that we like because if you name some it gives the impression that you only like that one, and it is not like that; the list is so big and varied… if music is a language the more words you know the better.
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The self-titled debut album was so great that I had difficulty imagining how you would follow it up. With Tarot Part 1, you made what I felt to be a huge step forward and an album that takes the listeners in a new direction. Can you talk about the creative process behind Tarot 1?
The process was very different from the first album, Eva and I wanted to recover a project that we always had in mind to be able to carry out one day we found ourselves in the middle of the pandemic so we took advantage of it to experiment and gather ideas
The songs emerged from that connection with the tarot, the questions we asked ourselves, and the search for answers in this game of introspection. We had time to delve deeper into it and build a soundtrack for each image. It has sometimes taken us quite to the limit because there are many songs and experiences. The Tarot speaks a deep language, and like music, it helps us to get to know ourselves better…
This required going further in each card. There has been everything… It has been a mix of studio work, creative spontaneity, and sharing moments of magic with Alex, Tony, and everyone who has collaborated.
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Eva said you had enough songs for two albums, so I’m guessing that Tarot Pt. I will be coming soon. How hard was deciding what “cards” would be on each album?
No, that wasn’t difficult, because we based ourselves on the 22 Major Arcana in their order. The challenge was to make a musical map of all of them and compose ideas appropriate to each card. All of them separately are an endless source of inspiration, and together, they form a kind of transformation/evolution.
The second part of Tarot will be released this Friday, November 22nd.
There are 78 cards in a Tarot deck. How did you guys decide which cards to write about, and why did you choose the ones you did?
For us, it was clear that they had to be all 11 songs +11 divided into 2 records. The length of the songs limited us a bit since they couldn’t be extended improvisations, they had to be more synthetic, which has cost us on some occasions to eliminate things.
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My Tarot card is “Temperance,” can you spoil the surprise and tell me if that one is one of the cards for the next album?
Yes! Temperance is the Arcanum number 14 so it will be in Tarot II. This song was one of the ones we had to cut out; it is a mix of 2 parts, like the material world and the unconscious, representing the improvisation of the end.
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I love that the songs are all a concept, but they work just as well on their own. When it comes time to play live, will you perform the albums in order or mix them with some songs from the debut album?
We don’t know yet, but maybe we’ll play them in order or like a random card draw. Although some are more complicated to perform live, some songs are acoustic, and others are more electronic. That will also depend on the rehearsals,
And why not? It’s also possible that we’ll bring back some from the first album
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In the US, MBMS made quite an impression on fans of psych-rock music. Were you surprised at how much we and other countries embraced your music?
Yes, it is a wonderful surprise that other countries have reached out and listened to our music. We are very encouraged that these places with an enormous musical culture have also liked it. The support they give us helps us continue composing. We are very grateful to all those who listen to and support us.
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Are there any plans to embark on a tour, or will you be sticking mostly to your home area in
Barcelona?
We haven’t made any plans for this yet. We’ve already finished Tarot II, which will be released in November, so now it’s time to prepare for the release.
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If you could tour with any band on this planet, what band would it be and why?
It’s a difficult question and even more so if we could choose some bands from the past it would.be impossible… If we had a time machine, we would have loved to go with The Pretty Things, Gong, etc… or visit the studio of Popol Vuh, who was not a live band but who we would have liked to play and compose…As for the current groups, the truth is that with so many, we have friends in several groups, and we would go with them if the opportunity arose.
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What other bands could you recommend to your fans to check out that are similar to your style?
Even though they are not similar to us, we follow so many bands that we meet on the networks and offer exciting proposals and very talented musicians… Glenn Brigman sings a song on our album and has a fantastic band, Triptides… Here in Spain, Mohama Saz and many others like Needlepoint, Nolan Potter Nightmare Band, Project Gemini, Upupayama, Lau-Ro and Wax Machine, Sula Basana, Lamp of the Univers, Mdou Moctar, Khun Narin Electric Phin Band, Rose City Band, Dream Machine, Goat, Hover, etc…
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Eva & Xavi, thank you so much for taking the time to do this Q&A. I love you guys tons! I can’t wait to hear Tarot Part 2 soon!
Thank you, Don!!!!
Magick Brother & Mystic Sister’s Tarot Part II will be released on 11/22 and can be listened to on all streaming platforms so be sure to go check it out.
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