eMusic Review 0
Stephin Merritt seems to function best within self-imposed confines, whether it’s the overarching concept of 69 Love Songs or the stylistic boundaries of his many musical personae. But he’s never set himself a task quite as determinative as on the Magnetic Fields’ Distortion, whose 13 tracks are characterized by cranked guitars and drums that sound as if they were recorded in the wash of a jet engine. There hasn’t been an album to so diligently marry analog fuzz and insistent melody since the Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy.
Given that the Magnetic Fields often seem like two very different bands in the studio and on the stage, it’s not surprising that Distortion‘s static-drenched arrangements reflect that duality: They sound like songs created by a largely acoustic chamber ensemble that were doused after the fact with a thick, warm blanket of sound. The production feels like set dressing, even if the decoration substantially spruces up the joint.
The most transparent Psychocandy descendent, “California Girls,” is built around JAMC’s version of the “Be My Baby” beat and the one-woman girl group of Shirley Simms, whose brassy vocals lend a wry edge to Merritt’s acid lyrics (“They ain’t broke,… read more »
