| The Magnetic Fields - Distortion |
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| Written by J.E. Sumrell | |
 The Magnetic FieldsDistortion [Nonesuch] Get It at Amazon  In 1999 The Magnetic Fields released their sprawling, ambitious magnum opus 69 Love Songs. Covering a vast range of emotion and style (you’re bound to do that in the space of 69 songs), the album was especially memorable for its instrumentation and use of non-traditional instruments (banjo, ukulele, cello) in “rock” songs. Almost a decade later, the album still works about 90% of the time (and that’s not bad to have 50+ songs stand out in one album) primarily due to the brilliance of these arrangements. Leader Stephin Merritt certainly has not been idle since then, establishing himself as a passionate, witty songwriter capable of creating hook-filled songs with aplomb. His quirky, sometimes haunting baritone provides the topping to these anti-rock performances. In 2004 the Fields followed up with i, a collection of songs all starting with the letter “i.” In i Merritt took the baroque approach to a greater extreme, dressing the music with piano, acoustic guitar, mournful cello, and banjo. It was a quiet, pensive album, punctuated by the occasional dissonant tone from an electric guitar. But only occasionally was dissonance a part of the music. Until now. Living up to its name, Distortion literally pours forth with dissonance, overdrive, reverb, a veritable clogged artery of sound. Merritt has holed himself up in a basement living off of cigarettes and coffee, listening to nothing but Metal Machine Music, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Velvet Underground records played on a worn out Victrola. To call this album merely distorted would be a disservice to the word. It’s something beyond distortion. Imagine an entire album of “When My Boy Walks Down The Street” turned up to 11 and you’ve got the general idea. Not that there’s anything wrong with dissonance and/or distortion. The problem comes with the one-dimensional aspect of the sound. On first listen, every song sounds the same. The drums are nonexistent, buried beneath the thick slush of fuzzed out guitars. The piano has to play in upper registers to get heard. And the voices are often indecipherable, which is shocking in light of the importance of lyrics in Merritt’s work. There is an immediate shock of hearing this odd sound from the Magnetic Fields, it will not surprise me that even die-hard fans will turn this one off after two or three songs. It’s a pity, too, because beneath the dissonance is another beautiful collection of songs. There’s the usual, excellent collection of the wry/clever (“California Girls”), semi-instrumental (“Three-Way”), and ludicrous (“Too Drunk to Dream”). Peel away the layers of gunk and you hear the usual Merritt humor (“they will hear me say as the pavement curls/I hate California Girls”) and despair. The question is “is it brilliant?” Probably not – the extreme temperature of the sound eventually becomes annoying – if you don’t like early Velvets or J&MC then this is not your cup of tea. Well, then, “is it worthwhile?” Yes, you will want to hear “California Girls” for sure. And it’s a Magnetic Fields record – something is going to appeal to you. Trust me. |
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