If you’re looking for a new band to listen to on repeat, look no further than Magnolia Park.
Hailing from Orlando, Magnolia Park is an eclectic six-piece that has a little something for everyone. Baku’s Revenge–Magnolia Park’s debut full-length album–successfully combines elements of punk, pop, and hip-hop to deliver an endlessly catchy tracklist with 0 skippable songs.
I lost track of how many times I’ve listened to this album already, trying to decide which songs are the best, but even on a song with no skips, there’s still gotta be a few standouts. In my opinion, if you don’t listen to any other songs on this album, you should definitely listen to “Feel Something,” “Drugs,” and “Paralyzed” (although you would absolutely be missing out if you didn’t listen to the whole album).
The first standout track, and possibly my favorite of the album, would have to be “Feel Something (feat. Derek Sanders).” If you’ve been keeping up with Magnolia Park thus far, you’ll probably recognize this one since they previously released it on their Heart Eater EP. If you haven’t heard it yet, just know that “Feel Something” is a certifiable banger that will probably remind some of the older fans of early 2000s punk-pop.
Next up for standout tracks, I’m going to have to go with “Drugs.” In this song, Magnolia Park touches on the dangers of addiction but manages to do so in a way that is upbeat and infectious while still getting their message across about a serious subject.
One more track that stands out to me is “Paralyzed” which, like “Drugs”, is a super catchy and energetic song that touches on serious subject matter. When discussing the album, bassist Jared Kay stated, “We can have a good time and be silly, but we also show that there’s some serious real-world problems that are going on in the world that we want to address and expose.” “Paralyzed,” which talks about the band’s experiences with institutional racism, is definitely one of these songs, and Magnolia Park did a fantastic job balancing the seriousness of the subject matter with the playfulness of the music.
Unlike their previous EP, which was recorded in one week, Magnolia Park put a lot more time into this album. For any longtime Magnolia Park fans, I can assure you that Baku’s Revenge was well worth the wait. For anyone else who’s maybe heard of Magnolia Park through social media but hasn’t really listened to any songs in their entirety, this is a fantastic album to listen to if you wanna know what the band is all about.
You can stream “Baku’s Revenge” here:
