Earshot

Mouthfeel is the first album from Magnapop since Rubbing Doesn't Help in '96. "We officially stepped back, but we never said, 'Let's stop doing this,'" says guitarist and co-founder Ruthie Morris. "We just tried to get unstuck and re-inspired." Fittingly, the album opens with "We're Faded," a humbly defiant statement on where Magnapop is these days. "It's about being not yet out of sight," she says.

Originally formed in Atlanta in '87 with legendary Athens musician Linda Hopper (Oh OK), the sweetly abrasive pop band is again based here and proud to be a part of Decatur's Daemon Records family. "[Daemon founder and Indigo Girl] Amy Ray asked - without ever hearing a single new song - if she could release a record by us," Morris said. "She is the purest person I've ever known in the music industry. She's never questioned one thing about us." And that, she says, is a new luxury. After being unceremoniously dropped by rap label Priority and Belgium-based Play It Again Sam, Morris and Hopper soldiered on.

"Since the last album, Linda and I continued to write and play acoustic shows in L.A., where we both had relocated," she says. "From 1997 to 2001, we continued to lift ourselves out of depression and write." In 2001, Hopper moved back to Atlanta and Morris moved to Seattle, but the duo continued to create. "We wrote songs through the mail. I would write the music on my four-track and she would record vocals on hers."

After a well-received show at SXSW in Austin three years ago, the band began a series of low-key live shows, honing new songs. Now, with Scott Rowe and Chad Williams as the rhythm section, Magnapop is in fine form and ready to have fun. "No one is trying to be a rock star, not that anyone ever did," concludes Morris. "It's just exhilarating to rock your ass off."

Magnapop plays a free CD release show Sat., Jan. 29, 2 p.m., at Criminal Records in Little Five Points. For more info, visit www.criminal.com and www.daemonrecords.com.