Charlotte & Magon: Love Happening

This weekend my seven-year-old son walked in on me and my wife just as we were about to, well, you know, and I mean just as we were about to. She gave out a little yelp in surprise and my boy looked around, his eyes half-shut, and he said "Why are you naked?" and I said, "Well I was putting my pajamas on." "But you already had them on earlier," he said. So I said, "Well I changed them because I was hot." Then he said, "Why is mom naked?" I said, "Well she was also changing," and he said, "But she had her pajamas on before." I said, "She also wanted to change." I started walking him back to his room when he asked "So why was your door closed?" so I said, "We had loud music on."

And we actually did have music on. We were listening to a strange and seductive album by Charlotte & Magon, Love Happening, whose title is reminiscent of 60s style European bedroom pop. But below the surface of this nostalgia that they are so adept at is something slightly cracked and off-kilter. There is a sense that things are going to fall apart at any moment, but this is what makes it compelling. The entire evening was scored by their music, even the interruption of our son, who only highlighted the kind of chance and unpredictability that weaves its way of the music. We were blanketed by it, all of us, our little family on our raft bobbing along the currents of love. When I tucked my son back in, I knew my wife was waiting, but I wanted to linger with him for a moment, because he is the lovely unpredictabilty that underscores our life.

--Charlotte & Magon: Rivage