I'm the first to admit that I was late to the Magnetic Fields party. By the time I had heard about them they were already up to 69 Love Songs, and the thought of listening to an album that long by a band I hadn't heard before seemed pretty daunting. In fact, you'd have trouble getting me to listen to 69 track album by a new super group made up of members of Die! Die! Die!, The Beatles, Radiohead, At The Drive-In and fronted by David Bowie, somehow capturing the moment when each member was at their respective peak. So when Distortion was released early this year, I was motivated enough to try it out due to its slightly more orthodox track-listing.
So while I come at this review not knowing nearly enough about their earlier work, I must say that I'm glad I took a go at this album as the result is very pleasing indeed. For the duration of the album, Stephin Merritt and co churn through some noisy, snappy and enthralling tunes, while retaining a healthy dose of humour all the way through.
The hate ballad California Girls is a definite highlight to kick the album into gear, Please Stop Dancing is a grungy lullaby that swims laps in the listeners head, Too Drunk To Dream is a hilarious ode to the powers of alcohol, and The Nun's Litany and Zombie Boy round out the album in a wholly satisfying manner.
While I coyly admit I have no idea where this album fits in the Magnetic Fields catalogue, as a standalone piece of work I found it very satisfying indeed, and now feel brave enough to look deeper into some of their older work. Yes, even 69 Love Songs.
RSS Feeds |