Stephen Merritt is mostly too funny and witty to be sissest guy in 'indie music' but most of the music he makes could quite possibly be considered 'gay shit bro' by yr work colleages or the uninitiated, even if yr girlfriend likes it. Listening to the terrific 69 Love Songs at my place of work requires a fair bit of skipping, not just to avoid the cringier moments but also the duds (there aren't too many considering the record's scope), like 'Chicken With It's Head Cut Off', oh yr so silly Stephen Merrit. Their new record Distortion opens fairly weakly with a retro guitar jam mostly lacking in much distortion at all but at track two it's straight into the very recognizable Magnetic Fields ballad drenched in feedback all lo-fi and sentimental and with a killer chorus to boot. I'm not sure why he's into these albums with self-imposed limits but one with Distortion works out well for this sound, especially when it's more lo-fi than usual, his deep voice somehow very at home in the midst of the off-white noise.
[Distortion is out January 2008]
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