Over the past few years San Francisco's AM Magic has generated an organic, imaginative, and sturdy style of melodic indie pop--a sound that bears the hazy brightness of hard-fought confidence. With songwriting duties split between Karma Tsocheff and Mike Alexis, images of distant boats, red-eye flights, Barcelona, and uncertainty crop up within their intertwined guitars and Doug Saenz's jazz-inspired drumming. It began with a slow education. During the winter of '96, Karma and Doug drove from San Francisco to Santa Cruz so they could play guitar and drums at the Consolidated Skateboards warehouse. A short while later Karma and Mike ended up roommates in a Western Addition basement-apartment. Bonding over the Silver Jews, skateboarding, and old vintage gear, they decided to start a band. Eventually and inevitably, Doug joined them, and another good friend, Nik Freitas, stepped in on bass and rhodes. Years of 4-tracking, occasional shows, and trips up and down the coast kept them busy. After a while, Nik left to pursue music on his own and has since recorded two exceptional albums on Future Farmer Records. In 2005 AM Magic buckled-down and finally completed its debut record, Floats. The band played a lot of shows and added two more members. Doug Poore joined on bass and old friend the Bassturd rounds the band out on keyboards, making AM Magic's crooked-pop sound a lot better.