Versa – comprised of Matthew Dolmage, Hollas Longton, Jesse Bell, and Janelle Wrona – are known for blending progressive rock ambition with post-rock atmosphere and indie sensibilities. 2026 marks 20 years of Versa, celebrated with the definitive presentation of their ambitious double album A Voyage / A Destination – Special Round Trip Edition.

Matthew Dolmage joins us for a Why I Love on the amazing and genre-defying Magma.

MOST PRETENTIOUS?

I remember first learning of the existence of the French progressive rock band Magma from Blender Magazine when I was about twenty, from a feature about the most pretentious bands or most pretentious albums in rock history.  Blender briefly dumped on Magma’s third studio album, Mechanik Destruktiw Kommandoh, derisively referencing the made-up lyrics and sci-fi themes of the record.  I didn’t particularly care what some smug critic for Blender thought was pretentious, and the description sounded interesting, and a couple of years later I found a used copy at my local record store and picked it up.

I enjoyed MDK a lot, but it was a few more years until I really started to dive deeply into Magma’s entire catalog. Around 2012 I picked up a copy of their comeback album K.A., and from there, over the course of a year or so, tracked down copies of all of their other studio albums, as well as several live recordings.  Magma takes three elements that one would not imagine blending well together – early 20^th century classical music of Orff, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky, the 1960s jazz of John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and early 70s progressive rock music, and fuses it seamlessly. 

RELENTLESS

Magma’s music is relentless, driven by principal composer and bandleader Christian Vander’s incredibly drumming and unhinged vocals.  Songs that are ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes long simply never let up, driving relentlessly forward with power and passion, layering complicated choral vocal arrangements, scat vocal solos, interweaving guitar, violin, piano, and chromatic percussion lines, in a way that is totally distinct, recognizable, and inspired.

I thought I’d likely have to travel to France to see the band perform live, and was making plans to do so when they announced their first North American tour in 30 years in 2015.  My wife and I attended a concert in Vancouver – prior to the show we happened to run into vocalists Stella and Isabella while walking around Vancouver, and I purchased a VIP ticket to meet Christian Vander prior to the show – they were all very nice.  Mr. Vander’s English is very limited, so there wasn’t much conversation to be had, but it was still a pleasure to get to thank him for the music. 

The show was remarkable, with the band launching into extended performances of the entirety of MDK and Köhntarkösz.  Though the principle band members (Christian and Stella) were approaching 70 at that point, the performance drove forward with propulsive energy and absolutely phenomenal vocal performances.  They returned for another North American tour in 2016 and I saw them again in Seattle – it was another fantastic show.

THE OPPOSITE OF PRETENTIOUS

So, why do I love Magma?  In spite of what Blender had to say, they are the opposite of pretentious – pretentious music is music where the composer or performer is invested in trying to convince you of their brilliance over giving you something engaging to listen to.  Vander and the musicians who surround him seem solely concerned with following their own muses to where they might lead, making the music that speaks to them, regardless of how incongruous, difficult, or off-putting it might be to an average listener, and in following those muses they’ve created (and continue to create) a lasting body of incredible, powerful work. 

Play MDK for a hundred people and ninety-nine might respond, “what is this horrible racket?” but that one remaining person will say “this is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard.” Magma the band, and Vander the composer, have an absolutely uncompromising vision and passion for music and I find that endlessly inspiring.

Our thanks to Matthew for his insight on a band that continues to divide opinion.

Here’s the epic Artmeis that Matthew explains: “really represents the heart of what we were trying to achieve with this project; something expansive, cinematic, and deeply emotional. It feels like the final piece of the puzzle falling into place after years of building this world.”

You can read more from our extensive archive of Why I Love pieces from a wide array of artists on an even wider array of subjects, here.

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