French Bryan's Magic Tears are now shoegaze/baggy at it's best! Summer of love: they weren't around for the first, they've studied the second, and they're planning the next. Bryan's Magic Tears release their next album, Smoke and Mirrors, on Born Bad. Still a thing on previous records, 4AM and Vacuum Sealed, their garage/ noise legacy fades away, not denied though. This confusing specimen will rave about fashionable shoegaze oldies while admitting a kink for All Saints. Aptly named, this new album pokes fun at stadium music while respecting its codes. Looks and sounds like Shaun Ryder had eaten Liam Gallagher, shamelessly churning out hits, leaning on a well-built wall of sound. The record heavily features that typical '90s shuffle beat, with which Bryan was already flirting...but they're an item now. It moved in. Two-thirds of the tracks have that groove on. The synth intro to Crab Kiss will feel like acid flash of Underworld's Born Slippy. Saves the french a trip across the Channel - and time - to get that baggy-friendly music. Still a guitar-centered band, Bryan holds a decent bag of tricks : MYB-style glide, hard power-chords stacking up like Legor, and pretty effective guitar-drum audience traps. Moving away from The Velvets to Ride, this records offers a plump sound, tailor-made to spread arms, bob your head, and level the ground in festivals. Still music to take drugs to make music to take drugs to listen to music.