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The tenth studio album from Better Than Ezra, Super Magick arrives as a prime showcase for the distinct collision of elements that have made them so beloved over the years: the eternally sticky melodies, heart-on-sleeve storytelling and wildly clever turns of phrase, potent yet finely composed soundscapes embedded with so much ear candy. But in a creative leap typical of the sonically adventurous band—whose lineup also includes guitarist/keyboardist James Arthur Payne Jr. and drummer Michael Jerome Moore—the album finds Better Than Ezra’s exploring influences from an eclectic mix of genres (country, Britpop, dub, new-wave-leaning arena rock, to name just a few). Mainly produced by Griffin and Emery Dobyns (a producer/songwriter/engineer known for his work with Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and Antony and the Johnsons), Super Magick once again proves their passionate commitment to constant evolution in their artistry. “This album took a while, but we wanted to put the right energy into it,” says Griffin. “There’s this idea that most people who go to see veteran bands are there for the old songs, but for us putting out a new record is about adding to our canon of work and creating music that we’re excited to play.”

The Velvet Underground’s classic self-titled third album, released in March 1969, by MGM, was a departure from the band’s first two albums in more ways than one. Gone was co-founding member John Cale, and in his place was a 21-year-old with Long Island roots named Doug Yule, who stepped right in. The record was also a stylistic leap, as Lou Reed describes it in Rolling Stone editor David Fricke’s liner notes, “I thought we had to demonstrate the other side of us. Fricke calls it “a stunning turnaround… 10 tracks of mostly warm, explicit sympathy and optimism, expressed with melodic clarity, set in gleaming double-guitar jangle and near-whispered balladry. Or as the late rock critic Lester Bangs put it, “How do you define a group like this, who moved from ‘Heroin’ to ‘Jesus’ in two short years?”

The tenth studio album from Better Than Ezra, Super Magick arrives as a prime showcase for the distinct collision of elements that have made them so beloved over the years: the eternally sticky melodies, heart-on-sleeve storytelling and wildly clever turns of phrase, potent yet finely composed soundscapes embedded with so much ear candy. But in a creative leap typical of the sonically adventurous band—whose lineup also includes guitarist/keyboardist James Arthur Payne Jr. and drummer Michael Jerome Moore—the album finds Better Than Ezra’s exploring influences from an eclectic mix of genres (country, Britpop, dub, new-wave-leaning arena rock, to name just a few). Mainly produced by Griffin and Emery Dobyns (a producer/songwriter/engineer known for his work with Patti Smith, Lou Reed, and Antony and the Johnsons), Super Magick once again proves their passionate commitment to constant evolution in their artistry. “This album took a while, but we wanted to put the right energy into it,” says Griffin. “There’s this idea that most people who go to see veteran bands are there for the old songs, but for us putting out a new record is about adding to our canon of work and creating music that we’re excited to play.”