About this album:

On June 25th Magic Moments will release the “Running Awake” EP and accompanying short film. The album is a raw and visceral story about running away from broken homes, surviving on the streets and finding love and friendship amidst the chaos.

Singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist Magic Moments has ambitiously released over 30 songs as a young solo independent artist. His productions are known for being intricately layered and genre spanning, but now “Running Awake” breaks new ground for the artist by stripping everything back to just piano and vocals. The EP tells the story of a vulnerable young teen trying to survive in an isolated world while searching for meaning in their emotions, all of which are laid bare over the course of the six track album.

On the EP’s opening song “I’m Just a Kid” we are introduced to the artist at 9 years old: “Picture me by the keys / I’m like nine / Staying up making up melodies all the time / Looking for the key to set me free / These melodies they set me free / I can’t speak I can just sing / Seven years go by and I can’t do anything.” Now the protagonist is 16 years old and he’s looking back on his young life on this critical night… the night he plans to finally run away from his abusive and dysfunctional home. As Magic’s piano playing takes on a greater sense of urgency he tries to convince his friend and next door neighbor to come with him, because she’s also being abused, but she’s too afraid, so he goes alone. The last thing he does before leaving is to take one last look at what his family and home life has become and sings: “It’s what you did / I’m just a kid / I’m on the run / From everyone.” And as swiftly as the EP began, the first song fades into the cold dark night.

On the EP’s second song “Alone in the City” we follow our protagonist into the city and the streets and experience his first glimmers of hope: making friends with a group of fellow runaways. They offer a sobering welcome to life on the streets from their own experience: “We were all just like you / Didn’t have a hecking clue / Nobody cared about us / They just told us to get lost.” Magic relates back recalling his own experience of his family: “Now they telling me to grow up / They can’t even show up / But they sure know how to blow up / So this is a hold up.” Perhaps there’s something all dysfunctional families have in common, at least that’s what Magic thinks when he sings: “They are lost / Just like us / And even if we cared / They'd rather not be found.” Magic’s piano playing here also comes in waves, and while the emotions are still raw and tender, there’s some lightfulness, and new possibilities coming over the horizon.

As the days go by he serendipitously runs into his friend in the city, the one he tried to rescue weeks earlier, and now on the EP’s third song “When the Blue Falls” he realizes he might even love her more than a friend, and he tries to convince her to get away from her own abusive situation or at least seek help by suggesting the idea: “Why don't you and i just run away / We could go for the night or the rest of our lives,” but both of them know things are serious enough that they need to be addressed head on so later he sings: “We could stick it out and see if things change / But i have my doubts there’s just so much pain / You’re getting abused every day / I promise there’s a better way / Let’s run away to a better place.” Here the piano arrangement becomes increasingly more dynamic, even erratic, barely grasping to the frantic rhythm at times, as if both he and his friend are playing the solo, making their way through a minefield called society, with their missteps and self doubts represented by overlapping notes, until it luckily crescendos away from chaos to at least one restful night tonight.

As our heroes contemplate their next options, the challenges mount from every direction because like their homes, the world itself can be dysfunctional and abusive. Acting as the voice of this cruel and uncaring world on the fourth song “I’ll Find a Way to Change Things” Magic sings: “So you wanna be in love / And perhaps you wanna have a beautiful life / Well kid let me tell you something about this world / It doesn’t care about what you love.” Then we get our hero’s reply and re-assessment of his choices singing: “There’s nowhere left to run / We’re making circles round this pain / Let’s face it together now / And I promise nothing will ever be the same.” They realize that they can’t spend their life running away, it was time to start running awake.

On the album's fifth and most experimental track “Standing on a Tidal Wave” our focus shifts away from the outside world and goes deep within the psyche of our hero. The piano is sparse, and echoing, we’re inside the great cathedral of the mind. Magic sings “Standing on a tidal wave / Everyone’s on the shore / You look out and it's better than it's ever been before / So go unravel the mystery / And write your story yeah / Cause who knows you might even find a home.” There’s also a powerful effect on our perception of time in this song, because of the song’s use of silence and delay and echo effects. This is how powerful our thoughts and perspectives can be in influencing how we take in and react to the outside world. Sometimes we end up lost in our own thinking, as if everything that exists outside has been washed away by our grief.

On “Ready To Go,” the EP’s final song, we have come to the point of where our heroes need to make a decision. Should they go? Will she come with him? After they’ve been challenged and changed by their recent experiences, and now that the choice is theirs, what will they do and where will they go? As the piano cascades across the keys, we can hear the inspiration from Magic’s love of dance, punk and pop music, all through just a single piano. Magic waits by his best friend’s window, wondering if she’ll come out so the two of them can run away together. As she comes out he sings: “You stumble down / And I catch your fall / Looking out / We can see it all / There’s nothing to lose / And everything to gain / We’re the wild ones / Who can’t be contained.” They may not have all the answers, or any idea where to go next, but they have the will and determination to make a better life for themselves. And it’s at this moment as the EP comes to a close that Magic sings directly to the audience: “If you’re listening I’m literally talking to you / What do you need to do / We can do it together / I’ll be by your side always and forever.” In the end Magic realizes that we can choose a better life and we can choose our family like we can choose our friends, and that the people around you matter because life is better with people you love…. This is what words like ‘family’ and ‘home’ can also mean. We can find a new home, and build a new family, and we can do it together.