Stephen Chasing Magic is a part of Kivel Records family, released not long after FarCry's sophomore album, 'Optimism', this band is an opportunity given to the leader Jason Pawlak who also have contributed a lot to the writings of many Kivel bands such as Goodbye Thrill, Tango Down, and Farcry itself. Built on the typical melodic rock foundation, eleven tracks here are enough to satisfy my ears, although not all of them are evenly strong.

'World Is Wide' and 'Room To Run' are two great tunes with fast tempo and memorable choruses, but these tracks are probably in the 8/10 range. 'This Time', on the second half, is very similar in terms of style and this is probably the best tune I found here. 'The Corners of My Mind' and 'The Edge of Goodbye' are two great ballads, and 'Fine Line' also a nice gem as well, though I slightly prefer the FarCry version.

'Same' is the weakest track here, the poor verse is the main problem, 'Bad Reputation' isn't very much different, but its chorus is still somehow better. Chasing Magic's eponymous debut is an enjoyable output by him, showing that not only Jace is a very good writer, he's also a skilled musicians. John Kivel always maintains the quality of his label's releases and this one is definitely up to his game's level. Good album!