Abracadabra, make it okay
Presto, change-o, make it go away
Catherine Moan’s shimmering new track No Magic, the lead single from her forthcoming new album, CM Ultra, has the rush of a perfect pop postcard slipped from a spellbook where the glitter has worn off, the old incantations have failed, and the song itself becomes the only enchantment with any power left to make the impossible feel fleetingly possible. The song opens its arms with gleaming synths and a hook built for instant memory, yet every bright surface carries a heartache. Moan sings with an effervescent, teasing lift, a voice that slips between Pet Shop Boys’ bubbly synth drama, Cranes-like Dream Pop, and Julee Cruise’s floating ache without losing its own sly smile.
No Magic circles a simple wish: make the pain disappear, please, right now. Around that wish, Moan builds a room full of stage tricks, old spells, broken promises, and emotional misdirection. Her chorus feels like a reflex, the kind of phrase a person repeats while realizing the universe has offered no secret lever. The chant is sweet enough to live in your head after one pass, but its sweetness has a sting, giving the track its charge.
Catherine Moan lets dance music carry dread without draining the floor. The beat keeps moving, the synth pads bloom, and the vocal line glides with poised, pop-wise confidence. Underneath, the writing takes aim at the fantasy of rescue, whether personal, mystical, political, or cultural. In the world around CM Ultra, queer life is treated as a target by loud public forces, and media noise turns ordinary survival into a daily pressure system. Moan answers with rhythm, colour, and control, turning anxiety into motion.
The video for No Magic, shot and editing by Johnny Dynamite, builds a miniature theatre of failed enchantment, opening on red curtains and a glowing title card before dissolving into grainy black-and-white film fragments, watchful eyes, hands pressed against glass, and Catherine Moan framed amid crystal balls, playing cards, dice, potion bottles, rose petals, columns, and a small white rabbit that seems to have wandered in from a trick that no longer works. It is all séance table, stage act, and VHS spellbook, but the glamour keeps curdling into resignation. By the time the chorus lands on “No magic”, the clip feels like an inventory of broken charms: every symbol of transformation laid out in plain sight, beautiful and bereft, except for the song itself.
Watch the video for No Magic below:
Listen to No Magic below and order CM Ultra here.
Five years after her debut full-length, she sounds sharper, funnier, and more assured. The production has widened; the songwriting has learned where to place the knife. Due July 17 via Born Losers Records, CM Ultra is positioned as a bigger, brighter step for the now LA-based artist, and this first single makes the case with a wink and a nod.
Catch Catherine Moan on tour this summer (with Born Losers labelmate Johnny Dynamite!)
Live Dates:
- July 22 — Los Angeles, CA — Zebulon
- July 29 — San Francisco, CA — Kilowatt Bar with Johnny Dynamite
- July 31 — San Diego, CA — Soda Bar with Johnny Dynamite
- August 21 — Brooklyn, NY — Public Records with Johnny Dynamite
- August 22 — Philadelphia, PA — PhilaMOCA with Johnny Dynamite
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