Their debut album, Up From Below, is full of communal music mixed with interactive clapping and addictive sing-a-long lyrics. The big, open-hearted anthems radiate uplifting vibes and take the listener back in time to an era when people weren't soaked with cynicism and irony. The album is a great throwback to a time of love, peace and a sense of community whilst introducing an array of instruments including trumpets, xylophones, harmonicas, accordions, pianos and tons of procussions and whistles.
Sharpe is the alter ego of Alex Ebert, formerly of the new wave indie rockers Ima Robot, who seems to have regressed to the state of a flower-child. Along with his 10 or 12 other band members, The Magnetic Zeros seem to be more like a family of gypsy musicians than a band. Traveling around LA in an old panted bus, complete with a driver named Cornfed, the album was recorded as a group effort over the corse of a year on a analog 24-track tape machine from 1979. There are several gems on Up From Below, from the pop sing-a-long "Janglin" to the melancholy "Desert Song".
By far the standout track on the album is "Home", a Cash/Carter inspired duet between Ebert and girlfriend Jade Castrinos. A great song that is already getting praise on college radio station with lyrics such as, "Home, let me come home/Home is wherever I'm with you". The best part of the song is the story Ebert tells of the time Jade fell out the window and almost bled to death while smoking the cigarette she feared would be her last in the back seat on the way to the hospital.
The band is now working on a series of short films based on each of the albums 13 tracks. The first of these films, Desert Song, was released in early June and will soon be followed by the second installment, Kissed Over Babylon.
http://www.edwardsharpeandthemagneticzeros.com/
http://www.myspace.com/edwardsharpe
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