It isn’t often that an album excites me this much upon first listen, but The Magnetic Fields’ Distortion, out tomorrow via Nonesuch, is the first hype-worthy album of 2008. I started listening to it earlier today, and I just can’t stop. Holy fuck is it good. At the risk of sounding reductive, I’m going to say it combines the stronger elements of 1999’s 69 Love Songs (Stephin Merritt’s deep, echo-chamber voice, general bounciness, lyrical cleverness and humor) with Beach Boys-style pop and then drenches it all in a bath of Jesus and Mary Chain-inspired distortion (get it?).
Some initial highlights:
“California Girls”: A bubbly diatribe against the sunkissed (or tanned-orange), towheaded (bottle blonde) bitches of the Sunshine State. “I hate California girls,” sings co-lead vocalist Shirley Simms. I do, too. Most of them, anyway.
“Mr. Mistletoe”: A bit late for the holiday season, but the fuzzed-out jingle bells beat anything in Santa’s sleigh.
“The Nun’s Litany”: The best irreligious sing-song track since Belle and Sebastian’s “If You’re Feeling Sinister.”
Curious? You can stream the whole thing here.
4 comments
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15 January, 2008 at 12:22 am
Stef
This review got me excited enough to check out the myspace and stream me some music and I like it. Clearly when on the hunt for music that is new or at least new to me this should be my first stop. Just one thing. Isn’t it 2008 now?
15 January, 2008 at 8:47 am
dontquityrdayjob
Jesus. Yes. It is 2008. Thank you for the reality check. Also, I spelled Stephin Merritt’s name incorrectly AND misattributed the vocals on “California Girls” to him. Editing time!
25 January, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Song
I enjoy the album, but I find myself yearning to hear all the wimpy music sans the “wall of sound” distortion, is that so wrong?
26 January, 2008 at 3:14 pm
dontquityrdayjob
I don’t know. Maybe it depends where you come down re: Jesus and Mary Chain. I happen to like them and have been thinking about distortion because a lot of the bands I’ve liked recently (Times New Viking, Mika Miko, etc.) are doing a pop song-bathed-in-distortion thing. And I don’t know quite why I think it works so well, but for some reason, it does it for me.