Dream pop duo Magic Wands originally hail from Nashville, Tennessee but have since settled into the Los Angeles scene. The duo consists of Chris and Dexy Valentine, who met on Myspace and have been making music together since 2011. Their latest album Illuminate was released on December 4, 2020 and is dreamy as ever.

Since Magic Wand’s formation in 2011, the have released four full-length albums. Their debut LP Aloha Moon was released in 2012 via Bright Antenna and featured dreamy dark wave single “Space.” The strobe light-infused video will make you want to get up and dance. Check it out below:

Shortly after their debut release, the duo toured with The Jesus and Mary Chain that summer of 2012. For their sophomore album Jupiter, the band found themselves in Los Angeles working with bassist Michael Schenk and drummer Charlie Woodburn. The album was released via Cleopatra in 2016. They changed things up with their backing band again, adding bassist Tommy Alexander and drummer Keith Crutchfield as well as Keyboardist Phil Galoni before heading on tour in 2017. Their third studio album Abrakadabra was released in 2018 via Argentine label Casa Del Puente Discos. In between releases, both Valentine ventured to their own projects, with Dexy touring with the Dandy Warhols with her reformed album Bonfire Beach and collaborating with Ariel Pink and Chris opening his own sound healing studio.

Their 2020 album Illuminate is their dreamiest album yet, and was entirely self produced and mixed. “Illuminate is Magic Wands expanding on what we did on our other albums, and I think it’s the best record we’ve made yet. We were still faithful to our original idea of all things ‘magic, love and dreams’ and I think we captured that more than ever on this album. Dexy and I both avoid ‘reality’ in ‘reality’ as much as possible and we especially do so in our music, and I think this record is a great example of that—whether it’s the ‘non-studio’ ‘studio sound’ that we get or the imaginative lyrics which can border on the surreal,” says Chris Valentine.