| The Magnetic Fields | |
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Magnetic Fields. From left to right: John Woo, Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Stephin Merritt. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Genres | Calypso, Synthpop, indie pop, noise pop, indie folk |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | Feel Good All Over Merge Records Nonesuch Records |
| Associated acts | The 6ths, The Gothic Archies, Future Bible Heroes, The Zinnias, The Three Terrors, Buffalo Rome, Moth Wranglers, Flare Acoustic Arts League, LD & the New Criticism, Kid Montana, Tender Trap |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Stephin Merritt Claudia Gonson Sam Davol John Woo Shirley Simms |
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| Past members | |
| Susan Anway | |
The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton novel, Les Champs Magnétiques[1]) is the principal creative outlet of singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt. While the particular musical style of the band is usually as malleable as Merritt's songwriting, they are commonly attributed to pop genres and subgenres: synthpop, indie pop, and noise pop. The band is often also cited as being recognizable by Merrit's lyrics, often about love and often with irregular or neutral gender roles, that are by turns ironic, tongue-in-cheek, bitter, and humorous.
The band released their debut and best known single "100,000 Fireflies" in 1991, which was typical of the band's earlier career characterized by synthesized instrumentation by Merritt with lead vocals provided by Susan Anway (and then by Stephin Merrit himself from The Charm of the Highway Strip onwards). A more traditional band later materialized, currently composed of Merritt, Claudia Gonson, Sam Davol, and John Woo, with occasional guest vocals by Shirley Simms. Their best-known work is the 1999 three-volume concept album 69 Love Songs. It was followed in the succeeding years by a "no-synth" trilogy: i (2004), Distortion (2008),[2] and Realism (2010).
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The band began as Merritt's studio project, under the name Buffalo Rome,[3]. With the help of friend Claudia Gonson, who had played in Merritt's band The Zinnias during high school, a live band was assembled in Boston, where Merritt and Gonson lived, to play Merritt's compositions. The band's first live performance was at T.T. the Bear's Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1991 where they played to a sparse audience that was expecting to see Galaxie 500 spin-off Magnetophone.
The 1999 triple album 69 Love Songs showcased Merritt's songwriting abilities and the group's musicianship, demonstrated by the use of such varied instruments as ukulele, banjo, accordion, cello, mandolin, flute, xylophone, and Marxophone, in addition to their usual setting of synthesizers, guitars, and effects. The album features vocalists Shirley Simms, Dudley Klute, L.D. Beghtol, and Gonson, each of whom sings lead on six songs as well as various backing vocals, plus Daniel Handler (who has written under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket) on accordion, and longtime collaborator Christopher Ewen (of Future Bible Heroes) as guest arranger/synthesist. Violinist Ida Pearle makes a brief cameo on "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side."
The band's recent albums, i (2004) and Distortion (2008), both followed the album theme structure of 69 Love Songs: The song titles on i begin with the letter (or, in the case of half the songs' titles, the pronoun) "I", whilst Distortion was an experiment in combining noise music with their typically unconventional musical approach. The liner notes claim the album was made without synthesizers. According to an article: "To celebrate the release of Distortion, Merritt and The Magnetic Fields played mini-residencies in cities around the country, culminating with six shows at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music." [4]
Realism was released in January 2010, concluding what Merritt termed the "no-synth" trilogy (following i and Distortion).[5] The next album produced will feature synthesisers "almost exclusively".[6]
In 2010, the documentary film "Strange Powers: Stephen Merritt and the Magnetic Fields" made its debut in film festivals around the world. It was directed by Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara. It was shot over a period of 10 years discusses the formation of the band, Stephin's friendship with Claudia Gonson, the production of various albums, and Stephin's move to California from New York. It won the Outfest 2010 Grand Jury Prize for Feature Documentary and Starigrad Paklenice Prize for Directing.[7]
The band have been chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform a rare festival performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties event that he will curate in March 2012 in Minehead, England.[8]
Past and current contributors include singers Susan Anway, Dudley Klute, Shirley Simms, Nell Beram, and LD Beghtol, as well as instrumentalists Daniel Handler and Chris Ewen.
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