Music

Magnetic Fields

Distortion
(Nonesuch)

By Annie Zaleski 

The earliest albums released by the Magnetic Fields (in particular, 1995's Get Lost) featured burbling synthpop in the vein of OMD and Soft Cell, long before such new-wave influences were prevalent or trendy. Perhaps that's why Distortion, the eighth Magnetic Fields release and a fantastic return to these electro roots, feels so nostalgic. Soft-glow reverb coats the album's songs — think Phil Spector's lush Wall of Sound or the Jesus and Mary Chain's early days — which makes them fuzzy with wistfulness and regret, like a collection of sepia-toned photos. Layers of cloudy, minor-chord keyboards drive "Xavier Says," while "Please Stop Dancing" sounds like the Human League on a cloudy day and "Too Drunk to Dream" is a typical Stephin Merritt musical-theater vamp which begins with him monotoning, "Sober, life is a prison/Shit-faced, it is a blessing/Sober, nobody wants you/Shit-faced, they're all undressed." Merritt's clever gender- and genre-bending lyrics aren't quite as shtick-laden as on past releases — although the inscrutable "Three-Way" (whose only lyrics are, natch, a cheery shout of "Three way!") only needs new-wave beats and jaunty desert-gulch guitar riffs to be the catchiest thing on the album. Indeed, Distortion is by far the poppiest collection of songs Merritt's released since 69 Love Songs — partly because of the songwriting, and partly because Merritt lets Claudia Gonson (technically a more proficient singer) take lead vocals on more tunes. And when he does sing, his droll, wizard-on-high vocals exhibit glorious world-weariness — as on the taffy-pulled "Mr. Mistletoe," a wonderful sad-clown tale about trudging into the twilight of life.