Well It didn’t take long did it? I’m back in Manchester, driving down the, at times, frightening M62. I gaze over to my passenger seat to tell the empty chair about the reason there’s a house in between us and the oncoming motorway and theorise that’s where the bodies are (with no research into the matter, might I add). I drive past Levenshulme Library, where I was for Manchester Popfest only a few weeks prior and park outside the household of the band ‘Magnum Opus II’.

This was a recording I was really excited for - the recording I bring up when people have been asking me, ‘Any exciting sessions coming up?’. I’d seen them at Muckypup’s gig the other week and frankly, blew me away (not that I’m ever not frank). Just a huge sound, so unique too - their debut single ‘SINGLE’ I’ve been listening to non-stop. I’m a big fan of these guys if you can’t tell.

I got out of my car and spotted some Opus members just past a couple of hi-vis maintenance men, who ushered me into the basement. Newly moved into white and plaster walls, with a drum kit being erected in the corner. I grabbed one of the stray end tables and throned the 424 opposite the band.

With their sound being so all-consuming I knew panned instruments had to be a feature, so we set about planning the steps for victory. The first but always the most unfrivolous step was of course the drums. Cal picked the sticks over the brushes, as with an SM57, you need those blatant strokes that the brushes dance around. We dumped a disused desk chair worth of coats into the kick drum, appointed and then relieved a mic on said kick drum, ‘Glyn Johns’ed everywhere and recorded a lovely take. The middle section with the incoherent drums is top notch, Evan said they wanted drums that purposely tried to piss off the rest of the rhythm section and it would have succeeded if it wasn’t exactly what they asked for. Proper Caroline, proper Mission of Burma. There was a moment of bated breath when Cal didn’t click out the drumless section. More on that later.

Whilst all this was going off, we also got Tom (I’ll warn you now, there’s two Toms. Get used to it) on bass to record at the same time, as I've recently got into the habit of recording directly to the channel, meaning I can record 3 different things at a time without bouncing anything immediately. Tom’s bass was gorgeous, single F-hole, all black - a stunner. We decided to decorate it and the drums with some proper dubby delay. One quick bus to channel 4 and then we move onto the glue of the track, Evan’s guitar. The tone is just perfect for lo-fi, reminded me of Duster, especially in that very first bar. One of the biggest challenges was going to be landing that guitar part perfectly in the gap, but Evan nailed it first time. That light chugging Velvet Underground style in the drum freakout bit is euphoric. Then a second bus for the drums and bass, this time with the rhythm guitar in tow.

The huge sound we were aiming for was really mounding up, so I walked up to the local Tesco with warm fridges and a limited meal deal section. We basked in the garden for a bit talking about Buzzballs whilst Bass player Tom read some Irish dudes poetry. Meanwhile Guitarist Tom was in the basement getting ready to set his part to the left pan of the tape. A pedalboard with many treats: a Strymon Deco, JHS 424 and Beautiful Noises - When the Sun Explodes.

Well we had to cut the intro from Tom's guitar, but I don’t think it suffered, I love the immediate start. The fuzz radiating off that guitar was crazy at one point. He pressed a button on the ‘When the sun explodes’, which fed back the signal for this unholy moment of sound at the climax, decaying into an unassuming picked line - the wall of sound was coming along nicely.

Next was Fakie Look-a-like, Tegan on her Saxophone with dark wood and gold highlights. If you’re gonna rock a sax, you neeeeed golden keys on it. Also a member of Knives, her sax sound is huge (are we surprised, this is Magnum Opus II) and she has the freedom to move around, thanks to this wireless mic on the end of the bell (as you can tell, I've had to google a few Saxophone phrases). On top of this, the smallest multi effects pedal I've ever seen, as you might be able to hear, packs some punch with huge reverb hanging over to the right of the track.

One last layer! The Vocals - commanded by Evan and supported by Cal and Tegan. All together, all on the AT2020. Not much in the way of effects, just a bit of delay. Evan’s light breathy vocals tucks into the track so nicely with the stack of supports colouring the melody ever so slightly. The vocals in the drum freakout section are gorgeous, when Tegan’s vocals cut through at the top? Heavenly! It’s honestly one of my favourite performances I’ve recorded.

They’re one of the bands that played at the start of the year at Regtown, alongside Little Grandad, Bramwell, Autocamper, Pushbike, Junk, Shaking Hand who’ve gone onto new levels. Someone needs to be paying attention to who Vardy backs, I know I do, Magnum Opus II are one of those bands who are onto bigger and better things, so once you’ve played this a couple of times, do yourself a favour and check out where you can see these guys play next. I clear my stuff out of the basement, some of them treat themselves to some Contact Buzz t-shirts and I head back across the M62, where drivers show me the art of middle lane hogging and consequentially, undertaking.

For Fans of: Caroline, Broken Social Scene and Patti Smith.