End Hits: The Mercury Music Blog

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

CD Reviews The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

Posted by Ned Lannamann on Wed, Jan 16 at 1:55 PM

The new Magnetic Fields album Distortion was released yesterday, and it revisits the fuzzed-out candy pop of some of their older work, specifically Holiday. It’s actually kind of a pleasant shock, coming after the mannered Broadway-leaning pop of songwriter Stephin Merritt’s recent work. This is the right decision; after the landmark 69 Love Songs, there was nowhere further to go in that direction, and i (the last MF album) floundered and failed to gain purchase on this listener’s ears.

Regarding the new record - the whole thing was streaming at their Myspace; it’s since been taken down, but a few songs are still up for enjoyment. Opener “Three Way” resembles an instrumental surf rock tunes (complete with the song title chanted at appropriate intervals), filtered through the distorto-glam of the Jesus & Mary Chain. “California Girls” is another fun song with vocals courtesy of Claudia Gonson. “I’ll Dream Alone” takes some of the familiar, moody elements of Merritt’s innumerable heartbreak songs, but pumps it up with grandeur worthy of Phil Spector. It sounds like Merritt is having a lot more fun these days, or at least is taking the Magnetic Fields thing less seriously.

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