Magic System, Francis Mercier, Chawki 'Magic In The Air' on Adore Music

At 123 BPM, 'Magic In The Air' is the fastest of the five Afro House records this week, whose tempos run from 118 to 123, and it also turns up on Francis Mercier's Baianá (Boa Noite) chart, placed 16th of 20 as Lisbon and Berlin share the run of August. The Extended mix of the track, credited to Magic System, Francis Mercier and Chawki, arrived on Adore Music in June, filed as Afro House.

Balanced between percussion and harmony, the track leaves its drums doing comparatively little, sitting loud with a fair amount of movement beneath the peaks and a bright top end that carries the tempo without straining. That balance, more than the pace itself, is what keeps a record running at 123 from tipping into something harsher.

Magic System themselves have kept a slower rhythm on record: eight releases since March 2021, all but this one on SPINNIN' DEEP, the most recent before now 'Premier Gaou (Remixes)', put out in November of that year. Four years on, 'Magic In The Air' finds them moving rooms at a different pace than the catalogue that got them there.