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Album Details

• Artist: Apples & Milk
• EP:
Master Of Disguise
• Label: Interregnum
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: mschmitt on 2007-06-09

“A Richard Brautigan poem wrapped inside a flower-shaped cloud of old radio transmissions from the village of Macondo,” says Magnus Reiten of his music—he is the frontman and only-man of Apples & Milk. To those of us for whom that sentence is worth as much as a dollar on free-balloon day (actually Richard Brautigan is best known for his book Trout Fishing in America who’s “writing goes beyond eccentricity and into vision at times, and at others it is personal symptomology.” See? You learned something today), suffice to say Reiten knows a lot about a lot and plays a mean acoustic guitar. Like a non-southern Iron & Wine or more pop-minded Mountain Goats, Apples & Milk’s Master of Disguise debut EP is simply beautiful. I’m tempted to claim it’s Sonic Youth if they were strictly acoustic (although I have no way to prove this), or perhaps the sort of music crickets are trying to make on summer nights (but again, I have no way to prove this). Tracks like “Starry Eyes” ring softly of Iron & Wine, while others such as “Up And Away” contain a taste all their own. Most of the EP is soft and elusive—making definite comparisons and guesses at influences hard to pin down. Perhaps this is because of Reiten’s extensive musical background: there are simply too many influences and ideas bouncing around in his head that what comes out sounds original. And it is. Calming, cool, reflective, and never abrasive, Apples & Milk complete an impressive debut in Master of Disguise that – like any good EP – hints at the sheer depth of musical potential Magnus Reiten has. I hope for an LP soon.

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