“Every witch is queen on Halloween.” That’s the hook in Ordinary Magic’s rock celebration of the supernatural in their new single, appropriately called “Halloween.”
It drops Tuesday, September 26.
“Music is integral to the celebration of any holiday or any passage of life,” said Brenda Layne, whose strong, expressive voice puts the fun in the lyrics:
Space and time suspend
Departed spirits stir and walk on the earth
The air is thick with sorcery
The night is prime for spells and prophecy
…
Doesn’t matter how you’re practicing
Solo or in a coven of thirteen
Every witch is queen on Halloween
Being a fan of Halloween or the supernatural is not a pre-requisite for enjoyment. The music features husband Tommy Osuna’s guitar and bass work, and Brenda has perfect pipes for old-school psychedelic/progressive rock, their band’s signature genre.
Signature, but not exclusive. Brenda and Tommy individually have large bodies of work. Brenda’s catalog includes a jazz album and a “singer-songwriter album.” Tommy has several albums to his name and an extensive list of production credits.
As Ordinary Magic, their rock is steeped in the influences of artists like Led Zeppelin, Rush, Heart, Todd Rundgren, and Steven Wilson. They draw also from the musical wells of folk, pop and electronic. Brenda has the voice and Tommy has the guitar for all of them.
Both are multi-talented. Both started playing guitars before age 10. In addition to lead and backing vocals, Brenda plays mountain dulcimer and keyboards. Tommy is lead guitarist, supporting vocals, keyboards, bass, percussion, mandolin and others.
Brenda says the world needs more Halloween music.
“When I listen to Halloween music, we have some great classics, right? ‘Monster Mash,’ ‘Time Warp,’ you know, the regulars that everybody knows. But there’s not very many of them. Then you play, what? A few Alice Cooper songs? I like a couple of new songs, like the Muse song ‘You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween,’ but I thought there’s definitely a hole there. In the celebration of Halloween, we need more music, and this is a song for everyone to celebrate their own special witchiness.”
“Halloween” also is the beginning of a new endeavor to put Ordinary Magic out into the world beyond Hawaii, where they live and work. The band is and has always been a different, distinct musical persona apart from their individual musical careers. They have been married for 23 years.
“We’ve been doing a lot of things,” said Brenda. “But we’ve been living, sort of, the artists’ life. We’re kind of like escapees from the music business. All of a sudden, we decided, ‘Oh, it would be nice if people listened to us.’ We want to work on getting exposure and bringing our music out to other people’s ears.”
Ordinary Magic performs a lot around Hawaii, and they have made records, a number of them featuring notable prog rock musicians.
“Whenever people hear our music, they like it. We want to bring it to the prog rock, psychedelic and maybe stoner rock music audience,” she said.
Brenda, who has written a doctoral dissertation on the psychological effects of music, brings to her music a spiritual aspect, a student’s interest in the natural-world aspects of paganism, in part rooted in the powers of love and healing — “ordinary magic.” She wants to bring their music to people who share that spiritual awareness.
From “Halloween”:
Feel magic power course through everything
Move with that misty lightning
Unbound by timespace flyin’
Brothers and sisters of all magical breeds
Witch and wiccan black, white, rainbow, or green
Every witch is queen on Halloween
They have two more singles almost ready to drop and other projects after that for the band. Tommy is the primary producer for Ordinary Magic. Brenda co-produces, but with the band, she manages the time devoted to the band’s projects.
“I’m going to start playing more instruments on the tracks,” she said. “That’s one thing that will increase our output a lot.”
She believes their music — and they have some great rock just on the music channels for Ordinary Magic — will appeal to older people and younger people, fans of any of the music that is in the band’s list of influences, and maybe “especially to fans of Heart.”
“And anything fun.”
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