Magnetic Fields
Albums
The Magnetic fields are the product of one songwriter, Steven Merritt. His contributions to pop music are astronomical, because not only has he written more great songs than anyone in the last 50 years, quite a number of these songs are perfect examples of the “pop song” and continuing its evolution. He is the rare artist that is traditional in style while being innovative in shape and sound. He has just about tried every style of music from.
The triad of Holiday (made in 1993, released in 1994), The Charm of the Highway Strip (1994), and Get Lost (1995) are probably where his artistic peak on albums was reached despite later more popular releases like 69 Love Songs and Distortion.
It can be confusing to review Merritt’s entire discography, because he goes under a lot of different monikers for what is basically a one-man songwriting band. The 6tths, launched parallel to Magnetic Fields in 1995, has mainly guest vocals singing songs he wrote. Gothic Archies, are more like dark fairy tales about adults that sound like they are made of children. Future Bible Heroes, honestly I haven’t even branched into them yet! The amount of subtle pop genius displayed is impressed.
Band Members:
Stephin Merritt (songwriter, vocals, ukulele, guitar, keyboards, programming, production), Claudia Gonson (drums, percussion, piano, vocals), Sam Davol (cello, flute), Susan Anway (vocals, 1989-92), John Woo (guitar, banjo, 1994-present), Shirley Simms (vocals, autoharp, 1999-present)
Best Album:
Charm of the Highway Strip and Get Lost
Biggest Influences:
Abba, The Smiths, The Jesus and Mary Chain, REM, Jefferson Airplane, The Human League, The Mamas and Papas, Donovan, The Undertones, Cowboy Junkies
Albums Chronologically:
1991 - 80% - Distant Plastic Trees
1992 - 87% - The Wayward Bus
1993 - 94% - Holiday
1994 - 97% - Charm of the Highway Strip
1995 - 98% - Get Lost
1999 - 88% - 69 Love Songs
1991
Distant Plastic Trees - 80%
The first Magnetic Fields album does not feature any vocals by lead songwriter Steven Merritt, which might be surprising to longtime listeners as he has a very distinctive bass vocal range. Though the songs sung by Susan Anway mimic how he would sing them in every way, his vocal patterns mimicking the melodies of a time that has been forgotten, yearning for a world that is nostalgic but also kind of wonderous. Songs such as “Railroad Boy”, “Kings”, and the depressing love song “You Love to fail” are distinctive in this way. Those are among the better songs on the album though the true standouts are the clinging piano keys of “Smoke Signals” with its echoing chorus and amazing angelic qualities as well as “Tar Heel Boy” has a majestic nature, like the song itself could fly off to another dimension and the oddly played plucking of acoustic instruments hark back to a Celtic tradition.
Saving the best of all for last, the classic “100,000” Fireflies “ proves above all else that Merritt and his cohorts no what they are doing and can create a classic melody as good as any heard before, that is a fairy tale of youth but transforms have way though to a piano ballad of adult wisdom; a strange paring indeed. Often not mentioned is the charming “Living in an Abandoned Firehouse with You” which is a gem of a tune, and typical of how Merritt writes a song- simple melody, backed by arrangements with layers and layers so there is always something to explore. There are some songs that are bit of experiments that don’t seem as effortless (“Babies Falling”, “Falling Love with the Wolf Boy”, and “Josephine” pale in comparison to the others) and the country ballad Plant White Roses” was removed from most CD versions of this recorded, but that effortlessness is a key to great pop music. The way it sounds like it was always easy to make no matter the cheap sounding instruments makes us all want to always relisten.
Best Songs: 100,000 Fireflies, Tar Heel Boy, Railroad Boy, You Love to Fail
1992
The Wayward Bus - 87%
The second album by the Magnetic Fields is an improvement on the debut, though not a cast one- that album is still very remarkable. It’s just that the track list is tighter, the production is better, and the songs are more distinctive from each other. The love for the 1960’s might be overwhelming and it’s very airy and thoughtful in its references: “Tokyo a Gogo” could be from a musical written by Roger Hammerstein, it is totally immersed in theatrical troupes; “Lovers From the Moon” channels Mama’s and the Papa’s but keeps Merritts own viewpoint of this lost night owl strolling the streets alone; “Jeremy” incorporates an Asian sort of carnival ride, with a chorus straight from a lost Left Banke album. The elements of pop songcraft is really impressive to behold, and Merritt has as big of antireal of past records to pull form as the Hip-Hop bands such as Tribe Called quest with samples.
Then there is what is becoming unique to Merritt and places his music more in the tradition of the singer songwriters in many ways, the songs that sound like pop songs but have some of the most depressing lyrics ever. “Candy” sounds like a song and the name of a song that should be sweet and saccharine and surely Merritt could make it that way, but instead it is one of the most introverted love songs ever made, “I know you’ll find a better man they’re all to easy to find/ and I’ll just go away somewhere and slowly lose my mind.” “Summer Lies” has a jangle to it, but the jangle sounds like form a harmonium or bizarre synth instead of guitar, and the lyrics are bathed in sleeping pills. “Saddest Story Ever Told” is maybe but the saddest, but one of the most openly vacant for sure, though the melody is one of his best ever and in mimics so many from old Gilr Groups that im sure be loves. The other big influence shining out is Abba, as “Dancing in Your Eyes” is a tribute to them but perhaps to much of an homage to succeed on its own. Still, the album is a tour de force of musical call backs and it seems there is no limit to Merritt’s form of creating melodies.
Best Songs: Candy, The Saddest Story Ever Told, Jeremy, When You Were My Baby
1993/1994
Holiday - 94%
The 3rd recorded MF album is first one that Merritt himself sings on (though the EP House of Tomorrow was released in 1992), and he seems very in control of how he wants to develop each tune so that is does not sound monotonous. His distinctive bass voice has put you in a state of pure wonder and intrigue, but never bores me and marks a unique stamp in history as perhaps the lowest male voice to ever attempt pop records. So many songs show a mastery of arrangement, “All You Ever Do is Walk Away” is a new kind of mention in indie rock where the singer seems exasperated in his declaration of lost love, while "Torn Green Velvet Eyes" is a distorted keyboard mess with its drum break that speeds up into a blur, an exhilarating moment on the record. Others are just pure pop perfection, " Deep Sea Diving Suit" which is so smooth and bouncy it could last forever but is very short at two minutes, “Sugar World" that paints the atmosphere is pure candy.
While most songs average about two or three minutes, other songs have a more longevity and patience to them whether it be the gentle serenade of "Flowers She Sends" or the magnificent bliss of the closer and one of his best songs yet defining, "Take Ecstasy with Me". "Sad little Moon" shows him wallowing in self pity, another unique side of his personality that he did more on early records and while it still works im glad not every song here is this melodramatic. The range of styles employed is more vast than ever before and it's nice to hear Merritt’s own distinct bass marble. "Swinging London” is formally the best song; it radiates a perfect melody and is charming love story of youth. The quirkiness of early albums is still present in a more dance pop style like "In My Secret Place" or short opener “BBC Radiophonic Workshop”. Most would agree there is only one dud on the album, the songs most people don't even mention "In My Car", it just doesn’t have the melodic resonance of the others. In all though, with its high points and consistency about, this is Merritt’s first absolute pop music masterwork and cemented a new way to create lo-fi music.
Sidenote: This is the true third Magnetic Fields album, recorded in 1993 thought the record label had issues and it was officially released in late 1994 a year after it was supposed to. He would soon sign to Merge records and no longer have this distribution issue.
Best Songs: Swinging London, Sugar World, Strange Powers, Desert Island, Take Ecstasy With Me
1994
The Charm of the Highway Strip - 97%
Magnetic Fields’ most formal masterwork is very interesting, an album that is made to listened to while traveling on the open road. Many of the songs have a country and folk element not held on other albums. Merritt’s voice reaches some heights of bass purity once again, "When the Open Road" is a great example, a song that describes the open road and a sort of prison that closes in and traps you in a pattern. The album has a tinge of country to it, but at its heart it is simple pop music which is not a bad thing by any means. The songs paint a picture of a dire world at times, the lonely vampire melodrama on “I Have the Moon” which mixes an old Elvis Costello melody to entertaining effect (1979’s “Oliver Army” from Armed Forces), the piercing seemingly random bouncing synth of “Long Vermont Roads” with an electronic percussion like no other that is one of my favorite pop songs ever with the flute punctuating the background perfectly; the deadpan “When the Open Roads is Closing In” that carves out a piece of Merritt’s heart and throws it out on the highway. Other times the music is lively and enchanting- “Born on a Train” is a tune straight out of the old west; “Fear of Trains” could be a barnyard shuffle if it was driven by keyboards; “Sunset City” crowns the record with a timeless film closer of a ballad.
Steven Merritt has such a beautiful, low bass voice and it gives each of these songs a special power. It really is just a matter of picking your favorite song, because there is not a bad song on here and so many – “Born on a Train” or “Two Characters in Search of a Country Song” – compliment each other os well with stories of disenchanted modern cowboys. “Lonely Highway” is pure sound painting, it feels as though the environment around you come alive and sing the enchanted melodies. Hid lyrics have reach a sort of Leonard Cohen point of storytelling, with lyrics like “some nights the neon gaskets free/ and turns into walking dead like me.” On “Crowd of Drifters” the music comes to a halt, and once again flute take hold of the melody stating “I was a traveling salesman/I got lost on the backroads/ fell into a crowd of drifters” which could be a metaphor for people not finding your music no matter how good it is.
This album contains nine of the best pop songs ever written, whether they are about traveling to different cities or locals or lost loves for character’s invented just for us. The last song is an instrumental “Dust Bowl” that closes the album on a soft note, expressing the fact that the listener has just listened to a very absorbing experience and they made need a respite (though you could make the argument this song is superfluous). If you like music of any kind, this is the Magnetic Fields at their best and most accessible. It may not be on the radio, but its one of the best pop music albums of all times, rivaling anything The Beatles, XTC, Beach Boys, Robyn Hitchcock, Big Star or any other master of melody has done before. Merritt joins the ranks of the pop melody gods here as The Magnetic Fields have the perfect container for soft, melodic music and this is one of their very best works of art.
Best Songs: Long Vermont Roads, I Have the moon, Fear of Trains, Born on a Train, When the Open Road is Closing In
1995
Get Lost - 98%
To me, Get Lost is Steven Merritt’s ultimate pop masterwork and the bleak statement on love in our lifetime. The melodies as always are stellar and given the variety of style sort of a mix of his last 2 albums, and despite the always electronic background music this is his most singer/songwriter and confessional record too. A lot of music is made in the world and a lot of it is disposable, or forgotten the next day. I promise you this to any reading: Get Lost contains 13 of the best songs you will ever hear and they will burrow into your heart and delve deep into your soul, once absorbed.
The order of songs has been contested, my cd and vinyl copies of this record have different track listing orders, but the neat thing about it is it truly works in any song order. There are the melancholy ballads to challenge death itself "Don't Look Away" with is soothing bass and slow waltz plucking banjo sound, and “Why I Cry” with the guitar played like a synth that is a voice of its own, and could come off as whiny but totally works and you fear Merritt’s tears throughout; “Smoke and Mirrors” is unique to Magnetic Fields with no many things going on in the arrangement: spoken word vocals in another language, pulsating bass lines, intriguing vocals.
Much of it is like a version of Charm of the Highway Strip and Holiday mixed together: “Love is Lighter than Air” is a song just like it’s title, echoing the most breezy song of the 1960’s all with shuffling percussion and nursery rhymes for adults; “Save a Secret for the Moon” uses a theremin over a pounding beat, poking fun at the serious of pop songs while also knowing that you can write on of the best ones ever made; “All the Umbrellas in London” has an enchantment about it that takes his influences and makes something more of it; it truly is an updated and improved sound on the synth pop of the 80’s simply because it removes the whiney pretention and replace it with real solid feelings. Three of the best pop songs or just songs really, ever made.
And that’s not all folks- you have the blitz of “Famous” one of Merritts most upbeat tunes and instantly telling a common story of fame and fortune dreams and the gay dance club Abba homage “You and Me and the Moon” with an irresistible charm. This is followed by the off-kilter haze of “the Village in the Morning” where you can almost feel the fog rising with those delayed electronic synth lines. You have the spare, minimal tale of “With Whom to Dance” where the image of a man alone in a room dancing is hard to shake, followed by that same man committing suicide in “Desperate Things You Made Me Do” (lyric sample: “time provides the rope/ and love will tie the slipknot/ and I will be the chair you kick away”), and the warning of missing out on love with “When you are Old and Lonely.”
The band makes this music possible for sure as well, they are featured on the cover for the first time ever: Sam Devol on Cello and flute, John Woo on guitar and banjo, Claudia Gonson on drums and ukulele, Juile Cooper on Bass, and Merritt himself on Vocals and piano. “The Dreaming Moon” is the epic sounding closer, no matter what order of the songs. It tells the tale of love lost with a simple but memorable motif that repeats throughout and sticks in your head and repeats for days after. It’s and incomparable 13 song set and as far as pure pop melody infused albums go, I place it over the one before simply because there are thirteen songs over ten. Desperate and lonely lyrics meet catchy songs like never before, don’t let it be overlooked.
Best Songs: Save a Secret for the Moon, Love is Lighter than Air, All the Umberells In London, The Dreaming Moon, Don’t Look Away
Part two coming soon :)