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The Magnetic Fields

MusicBlog

"tongue-tied and useless."

Website: http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/

Bio: The Magnetic Fields are the music of songwriter-producer-instrumentalist Stephin Merritt, with the aid of various guest musicians on cello, tuba, and exotic percussion. In the ... (more) studio, The Magnetic Fields are essentially all Stephin. The band also sports a live act which usually consists of four members: Merritt on vocals and guitar, a cellist, second guitar, and drums.

Merritt's first two albums, The Wayward Bus and Distant Plastic Trees, were recorded in 1991 and 1992 with singer Susan Anway, formerly of the early 80's Boston punk band "V;". These two albums featured cover art paintings by Wendy Smith, who was also the cover artist for Weekend, an early-80's band on RoughTrade.

Distant Plastic Trees was at first only released in the UK on RedFlame Records, and in Japan on RCA Victor. The following year, the band released Distant Plastic Trees in the US, combining it onto one CD with the unreleased album The Wayward Bus on their own label, PoPuP.

The Magnetic Fields' first US 7" was The Marvels of Insect Life (C'est La Mort). This hard-to-find- record features a non-lp track of Susan Anway singing "Crowd of Drifters," a song performed by Merritt years later on Charm of the Highway Strip.

"100,000 Fireflies" was the college radio sensation from Distant Plastic Trees. The song first appeared as a 7" on Harriet Records and then later on One Last Kiss (SpinArt). The song has been covered by several bands including Superchunk on The Question is How Fast ep (Merge).

In 1991, Anway decided to relocate to Arizona and Merritt took up the vocal duties. The Fall of 1992 and Spring of 1993 saw the release of several 7"s with Merritt singing: Long Vermont Roads (Harriet) and The House Of Tomorrow ep (Feel Good All Over—reissued on Merge in January, 1999). Also, the first 7" from the 6ths, a side project in which Merritt's music is sung by an array of guest singers, was released, featuring the vocals of Robert Scott of The Bats [Heaven in a Black Leather Jacket (Merge)].

Between the Fall of 1993 and Spring of 1996, Merritt released five albums on four cd's: the re-release of The Wayward Bus and Distant Plastic Trees (Merge), The Charm of the Highway Strip (Merge), Holiday (Feel Good All Over - reissued on Merge in January, 1999) and Get Lost (Merge).

1999 saw the release of 69 Love Songs. "Why 69 Love Songs?," you ask? The story has it that Stephin Merritt came up with the idea for 69 Love Songs while sitting in an elegant midtown Manhattan gay piano bar. He originally planned for it to be a live musical revue, performed with a rotating cast of singers in the plush hotel bars and cabarets of New York City. In fact, at first the concept had been "100 Love Songs," but Merritt soon realized that even at 2 minutes per song, the revue would last over 3 hours without an intermission. The number "69" seemed to be the next appropriate number down from a hundred, especially due to its visual appeal as a graphic design.

When Merge Records reminded Merritt that he was long overdue for a new Magnetic Fields album—he had spent the previous 3 years making records for his other bands The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and the Gothic Archies—he decided to make 69 Love Songs as his next album. His hope is that eventually the songs will be performed as the musical review they were always intended to be.

All the previous Magnetic Fields albums have followed certain themes, such as escape, country roads, Phil Spector, vampires—so the idea of creating a new theme for this album was only natural.

Merge Records released 69 Love Songs on September 7th, 1999. The album is available as a 3 CD box set and as individual CD volumes. The compositions on 69 Love Songs are some of Merritt's most ambitious and diverse to date. But they still honor his time tested themes of life, loss, hope and beauty. While traditionally The Magnetic Fields have essentially been a solo effort in the studio, Merritt incorporates the help of friends and bandmates for this bold undertaking. Guest vocals are provided on 24 of the 69 songs by Shirley Simms, Claudia Gonson, Dudley Klute and LD Beghtol. The Magnetic Fields touring band also contributes (Sam Davol - cello; John Woo - guitar; Claudia Gonson - keyboards and drums) (less)