The Magnetic Fields
Distortion
I never thought about it until recently, but the Mag Fields would make a great singles band. All these great little pop gems are perfect for the 7″ format. And yet, here I am doing a compact disc review. Just like when you become endeared to that special someone whose positive traits outweigh their idiosyncrasies, Stephin Merritt’s brand of heart bursting/breaking indie pop comes at you in full-length force, warts and all. Most fortunately, there are fewer blemishes on this release than there were on his last effort.
The album starts off with a (possibly kinky) instrumental called “Three Way”. It’s like The Champs’ “Tequila” but for the modern age. The rest of the disc has Merritt trading vocal duties with Claudia Gonson, whose angelic haze of a voice is a nice counterbalance to Merritt’s somber baritone. At first one might think that he was saving all the good melodies for her – “California Girls” and “Xavier Says” are wonderfully catchy tunes, while “Old Fools” and “Mr. Mistletoe” are too sad and/or sleepy to bounce. The two duet together on one of the disc’s best tracks though, “Please Stop Dancing”. Along with “Too Drunk To Dream”, I’m sure an uber-fan could find a way to squeeze them amongst the best tracks of 69 Love Songs for an unsuspecting listener. Near the end of the album we get the humorous “The Nuns Litany” and the slow, dreamy “Courtesans”, and it’s at this point that the listener says “It’s over? Already?”
When Merritt set out to make “3 minute pop songs” he wasn’t kidding. Every single song is no more than 20 seconds under and no more than 8 seconds over that traditional mark. The song format is a verse/chorus/verse style but when you’re sitting on those awesome melodies you don’t need to experiment. While the songwriting follows the basic formula, Distortion seeks new territory from an instrumental and production standpoint. While the vocals at times are light, there’s nothing “lite” about the music – fuzzy guitars blanket everything, with hints of drone and even feedback! No electro-pop to speak of, and there’s not one single jangle in earshot. Much like that special someone, Merritt lays it all on the table out of love and respect. When it comes to making love songs, the Magnetic Fields don’t play games.
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