McKinley Dixon’s new album, Magic, Alive!, is out June 6th on City Slang.
For almost a decade, Dixon has been turning his experiences as a native Southerner and student of literature into vivid reflections on joy, pain, and perseverance. His breakthrough, , began with 2021’s For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her and continued with 2023’s Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?, both instrumentally rich exercises in storytelling wrapped up in the trauma and grief of losing a young friend.
In many ways, Magic, Alive! continues the work of its predecessors: It is the story of three kids who lose their best friend and wrestle with the subsequent turmoil. The essential twist, though, is that the trio wonder what they can do to bring their pal back or, at the very least, reconvene with him, so that their friendship does not end with mortality. Indeed, the crux of Magic, Alive! is a broad contemplation of what constitutes magic at all.
Magic, Alive! began life when Dixon received an unexpected email from English producer Sam Yamaha. Before long, Dixon rendezvoused with him in London, digging through his archive to find a wealth of beats that resonated with his own approach and with the burgeoning concept for Magic, Alive!. Dixon returned to his native Richmond, Virginia, with a tranche of sounds from Sam Yamaha and Koff. “It’s like a celebration when I make a record back in Richmond,” he says. “Everybody has grown, but now here we are together again.”
