Magnetic Fields - Distortion
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CD Details
Artist: Magnetic FieldsEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2008-01-15
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
- Three-Way
- California Girls
- Old Fools
- Xavier Says
- Mr. Mistletoe
- Please Stop Dancing
- Drive On, Driver
- Too Drunk To Dream
- Till the Bitter End
- I'll Dream Alone
- The Nun's Litany
- Zombie Boy
- Courtesans
Music reviews of Distortion
Music Review: Distorted Dreams
Rating: 4 Stars
The Magnetic Fields have been around for the better part of two decades, keeping fans happy by releasing albums every couple of years. Distortion comes to us a little less than 4 years after the band's previous album, i. Both i and its predecessor, 69 Love Songs, were concept albums, wrapped around a basic idea. It should come as no surprise then that Distortion follows in much the same way. Though there is no thematic ribbon that ties the songs together, the actual album is in fact a mess of distortion and feedback.
It's an odd thing to hear on a Magnetic Fields album. As a band who has made a name for themselves by making stately and generally straightforward music, something as raw and dirty as distortion seems like a mismatch. Surprisingly though, this new element allows the band to explore some previously uncharted territory. 60s pop is the clear sound that Stephin Merritt and his bandmates are going for this time around, with driving and repetitive guitar lines that are catchy in and of themselves. Album opener, "Three-Way," for example, makes for enjoyable song despite the fact that Merritt's trademarked lyrical wit never makes an appearance. It is, rather, guitars, drums, and keyboards that make the song as enjoyable as it is. It is here that we're first greeted with what Distortion promotes with it's title; a decidedly lo-fi sound with blaring mids and a consistent layer of distortion and feedbacking guitars below the music itself.
Despite it being the theme of the album, however, it is also my least favorite part. While songs like "California Girls" and "Please Stop Dancing" undoubtedly benefit from this aesthetic, others like "Old Fools" would seem better suited to a more traditional Magnetic Fields sound. It's kind of a double-edged sword. Just when you hear a song that you absolutely adore, you're greeted with another that just doesn't seem to fit. Even Stephin Merritt, with all his theatrics, seems somewhat out of place on an album as loud and messy as this. And it is, perhaps, for this reason that the album's better moments are sung, not by Merritt, but by Shirley Simms (who can also be heard on past Magnetic Fields albums).
But that itself is more of a minor annoyance than anything else. Despite the fact that some songs don't benefit from the distortion as many others do, each song on Distortion is undeniably catchy and worth listening to. "California Girls" takes a unabashed beach rock riff and turns it into a funny, catchy song. Shirley Simms sings of the subjects, "They breathe coke and they have affairs with each passing rock star." It is not only one of the better tracks on the album, but also the first song you'll undoubtedly find yourself singing along to. "Please Stop Dancing" finds Merritt and Simms trading off on vocals, and the song's steady rhythm just begs for a good toe-tapping or head-bobbbing.
"Drive On, Driver" is a touching, and still catchy ballad sung once again by Simms. The melody is beautifully written, and will definitely please most listeners. "Too Drunk To Dream" is classic Magnetic Fields, and Merritt's shining moment on the album. The beginning of the song cleverly examines the way things always seem better when you're drunk. It's absolutely hysterical. He later sings (in his typical theatrical manner), "I've gotta get too drunk to dream cause dreaming only makes me blue," in what is sure to be yet another sing-along favorite.
Overall, the album is pretty enjoyable and a clear step up from the disappointment that was i. Though Stephen Merritt really takes a back seat to Shirley Simms, Distortion is no less enjoyable because of it. If you can get past all the blaring noise that is consistently going on in the background and deal with the abnormally high mids, I'm convinced that most anybody can find something to enjoy on this album. For fans of Magnetic Fields, it is an absolute must buy. For everyone else, it comes highly recommended.
Key Tracks:
1. "Three-Way"
2. "California Girls"
3. "Please Stop Dancing"
4. "Too Drunk to Dream"
5. "The Nun's Litany"
7 out of 10 Stars
Description of Distortion
Distortion, Magnetic Fields? second Nonesuch release, features the brilliant melodies and wry lyrics that composer and band leader Stephin Merritt has long been praised for, but, as the album title suggests, he serves them up with a twist. If the late, great Cole Porter had somehow been resurrected just in time to appear at the Coachella indie-rock fest, the results might sound something like this ?"small, ironic tales of love and woe," as National Public Radio has described Merritt?s songs, startlingly enveloped in layers of live feedback that recall the noisy pop provocations of legendary Scottish quartet The Jesus and Mary Chain.As album producer, Merritt takes a completely novel approach to his deployment of feedback, going well beyond mere fuzzed-out guitar to incorporate cello, piano and accordion into his mad-scientist mix. What he?s conjured up is a gorgeous drone that reverberates over the length of 13 tunes ? from the exuberantly rocking opener, "Three Way," to the soused, sing-along lament, "Too Drunk To Dream," to the bittersweet closer, "Courtesans." It?s like hearing a great three-minute pop classic from someone else?s car radio in the middle of a traffic jam: melodic bliss surfacing above the din.
Merritt?s doleful baritone is employed to great effect on the brooding, lonely-guy balladry of "Mr. Mistletoe" and the horror moviemeets-romantic comedy of "Zombie Boy." But he swaps lead vocal chores throughout Distortion with Shirley Simms, a singer who longtime fans will recognize from her performances on the Magnetic Fields? career-making 1999 three-disc set, 69 Love Songs. Merritt calls Simms? voice "as pop as pop gets" and gives her some of the cleverest numbers, including "California Girls," a Beach Boys-style anti-anthem about murderous envy, and "The Nun?s Litany," a chastely rendered list of extremely naughty fantasies.
Stephin Merritt?s work attracts a wide-ranging audience, from connoisseurs of the American Songbook, for which Merritt is arguably making some serious 21st Century contributions, to indie rock fans who admire his innovative use of chamber instrumentation and his deadpan humor. Tickets to Magnetic Fields? winter ?08 American tour, a series of residencies in several major cities, sold out upon announcement and more dates have been added to meet the demand. NPR chose Merritt as the first artist on its new All Songs Considered feature, Project Song, in which a performer is given a specific picture and phrase and challenged to compose and record a new song about them within 48 hours; Merritt?s "Man Of A Million Faces" is now available at npr.org, along with video clips of the song-making process. Distortion joins an already eclectic catalogue of Merritt-helmed projects on Nonesuch: Magnetic Fields? 2004 Nonesuch debut, i; The Gothic Archies? A Tragic Treasury, a collaboration with Lemony Snicket author Daniel Handler; Showtunes, a compilation of works composed for the theater; and the soundtrack to the Oscar-nominated film, Pieces Of April.
The Magnetic Fields Photos
 |  |
More from the Magnetic Fields
 69 Love Songs [BOX SET] [LIMITED EDITION] |  i |  Holiday |
 Get Lost |  The Charm of the Highway Strip |  The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees |
 69 Love Songs, Pt. 1 |  69 Love Songs, Pt. 2 |  69 Love Songs, Pt. 3 |
 The House of Tomorrow [EP] |  I Thought You Were My Boyfriend: Remixes [SINGLE] |
Fans of the Jesus and Mary Chain will surely be thrilled with Distortion, which lives up to its title in the first few seconds of the jovial opener, "Three Way." The entire album is awash in a bed of feedback and noise sharp enough to match bandleader/Svengali Stephen Merritt's notoriously wry lyrical jabs. In its willful obfuscation of simple melodies, Distortion recalls MF's earlier, more electronic, more reverb-soaked output. Of course, Merritt's songs could probably work with any arrangement, cacophonous or otherwise. His lyrics and succinct melodies survive the treatment, and his inner Cole Porter remains intact. "California Girls" features regular collaborator Shirley Simms cheerily plotting a battle-axe attack on some of the more blonde and plastic elements of California society (Simms handles vocal duties on about half the tunes here). "Mr. Mistletoe" is an anti-carol with a forlorn Merritt attaching his romantic betrayal to various holiday symbols. "Too Drunk to Dream" is classic Merritt, with an upbeat but down-on-its-luck refrain: "I gotta get too drunk to dream / Because I only dream of you." Drenched in distortion, MF's now-expected acoustic instruments--cello, piano, accordion--create some remarkable textures. Merritt and crew remain full of songs and surprises, and in finding their ability to make a ruckus, have created an inarguably singular offering. --Jason Pace
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