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
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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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