This week, any purchases should begin and end with The Magnetic Fields’ Distortion, the band’s latest release in over four years. As the title suggests, every song on the entire album is washed over with a heavy dose of distortion and feedback, in what is described by Stephin Merritt as an attempt to “sound more like Jesus and Mary Chain than Jesus and Mary Chain.” That in itself could spell disaster, but thankfully this doesn’t really detract or hamper the album at all in my opinion, because any doubt you might have is alleviated once you hear the opening moments of “Three Way,” followed by one of my favorite songs on the album; the fun and catchy “California Girls.”
One thing I love about Stephin Merritt is how he always finds the right voice to represent and convey most of his song-writing. In the case of Distortion, it’s the vocals of Shirley Simms on a songs like “Drive On, Driver” and the duet with Merritt on “Please Stop Dancing” that are really the highlight of the entire record.
Anyways, i’m not much for reviewing albums here on the blog, but I definitely recommend picking this one up if you have the chance. Also, if you happened to need any more coercing, you can stream the entire album on the band’s myspace.
Check back next week, as it brings with it the first really big week of album releases.
The Magnetic Fields :: Distortion
Additional posts you may be interested in:
Entries (RSS)
definitely one of the best records of da year!
homoerotic songs i love
an amazing album. 2008 started off well with this one
I like the new Magnetic Fields, but I have to admit (and I may be committing blasphemy here) that the Magnetic Fields are a band I like and I’ll get any new release by them, but I don’t necessarily drool over them. In this case, after a couple of listens, I can tell it’s more really good stuff.