The Magnetic Fields – Distortion

admin on Feb 8th 2008

[audio http://www.iol.ie/~pippen33/01-the_magnetic_fields-three-way.mp3]

The Magnetic Fields – ‘Three-Way’

For some time, the new Magnetic Fields album, Distortion, had been languishing inexplicably at the bottom of my “to-listen” pile. But as one cursory listen will reveal, this album is full of surprises. Recalling their earlier work, Distortion‘s production values make it sound an unreleased album consigned to the archives and forgotten about for decades.

A mixed bag of a release, it doesn’t necessarily suffer for the lack of cohesion; instead themes are unified under an overall aesthetic of Nuggets-era garage-pop. Although older fan of the band may be dissappointed that Stephin Merritt takes a bit of a back seat to Shirley Simms here, but as an invitingly accessible work, Distortion may also work as an open door to listeners unfamiliar with their back catalogue.