Son Little isn’t trying to make the song of the summer. It just kind of happened. “Blue Magic,” the shimmering lead single off his album New Magic, has been tagged as exactly that — a laid-back, sun-drunk groove that feels like it wandered in barefoot from some cosmic beach.
But Son Little — aka Aaron Livingston — didn’t go chasing that vibe. “It’s a very natural-sounding record,” he told me, contrasting it with the more digital leanings of his earlier work. “Some of it was recorded in Australia, and maybe that had something to do with the laid-back feel. I think being in that space sparked something in me.”
The title New Magic isn’t just clever wordplay on the single. It’s a mood. “That kind of mindfulness — that inner peace — it really feeds into the record,” he explained. “There’s something about finding your place, accepting the quiet, and letting melody come from that.”
There’s a spiritual quality to his approach, even when he’s not calling it that outright. Son Little writes like a jazz player and sings like someone trying to pull magic out of the sky. “There’s always a sort of necessary war,” he said of the creative process. “A tension between what you feel and what actually comes out.”
And then there’s the Portugal. The Man collaboration. Son Little appears on “Number One,” the band’s explosive groove that opens with a sample of Richie Havens before Son takes over the mic. Seamlessly, I might add. The first time I heard it, I didn’t even clock the transition. “Did you go into that trying to emulate Havens at all?” I asked. He laughed, but didn’t dodge. “Not impersonate, no. But I definitely felt the weight of it. That legacy. You want to do it justice — and make it sound good.”
He does. And it does. The Havens connection — soulful, raw, righteous — feels fitting for Son Little, whose sound always balances the classic and the strange, the grounded and the otherworldly.
New Magic isn’t chasing trends. It’s not trying to be anything but what it is: a clear-eyed, heartfelt, and sometimes gently psychedelic trip through the mind of a restless artist. It sparkles without showing off. It grooves without trying too hard. It’s the kind of record that sneaks up on you.
And if it happens to be the song of the summer? Well, some spells just cast themselves.
Listen to the interview above and then check out "Blue Magic" below.
