Frontman's quality lyrics power new album
By Aitor Zabalegui
On "Realism," The Magnetic Field's 10th album, Stephin Merritt is credited with vocals and instrumentation. The latter accreditation is an abbreviated way of listing the plethora of every stringed instrument imaginable, along with unnamed percussion that could range from tap shoes to mason jars.
The band does manage to credit a flugelhorn, a cajon and leaves, so maybe there are a few things the maestro doesn't know how to play. Self-described as Merritt's "folk album," "Realism" is the last of the "no-synth trilogy" the band embarked upon after their opus, "69 Love Songs."
All quotations aside, the breadth of sounds in this album are astounding given that they are all acoustic. There are a few standouts, starting with the opening track, "You Must Be Out Of Your Mind." It's another of Merritt's insightfully ironic takes on love delivered with such deadpan, it's a wonder such a cynical sounding voice would even associate with love anymore.
"I want you crawling back to me/down on your knees, yeah/like an appendectomy/sans anesthesia," he declares, appropriately scoffing out the words through his nose with lyrics that could have been written by Elvis Costello. Merritt has always distanced himself from his lyrics, either by gender-bending his characters or deliberately contradicting his motifs.
For instance, alcohol, as a philosophy, plays a comically large role in "Realism." Merritt quickly departs from the assured revelation, "you can't go round just saying stuff/just cause it's pretty/and I no longer drink enough/to think you're witty," to "Stop mumbling and cheer up/put down that book/pick beer up" in the tannenbaum sing-a-long of "Everything is One Big Christmas Tree."
The only song on the album to feature electric guitar, interestingly enough, is a polka. "The Dada Polka" starts off sounding like a Radio London jingle, and is easily the most exuberant track of the bunch.
Featuring a danceable riff reminiscent of all the twisting and shouting that used to happen in Britain before "God Save the Queen" got the best of them. Merritt tries to teach the dance, joyfully pleading, "Gyrate like a gyroscope/Collide like a kaleidoscope/Freeze!"
But that quickly devolves into a deflated attempt to just get people to "Do something; anything." The song offers a lift toward the end of the album, which unfortunately starts to sound tired and inattentive.
"Seduced and Abandoned" is one of those songs. A typical -- for this band, anyway -- renaissance-era tune with mandolin and banjo backing a frail flute and waltzy recorder harmony. The track falls flat, as the band sounds more bored than heartbroken. The lyrics never falter, though, as Merritt slips in, "Dutifully sleeping all day/abandoned to die/I did nothing but cry/in my one-ply negligee."
The following song, "Better Things," again, is lyrically compelling, but the music is far too mechanical. It's a shame that lines like, "On winter nights the mermaid sings/'I was made for better things,'" fall into a song that only resonates as background music. The Magnetic Fields cannot be carried solely on the weight of Merritt's lyrical prowess.
Their songs were made all the more ironic before when the themes of Merritt's anecdotes clashed with the endless styles of music they were pulled from. When the music actually matches what the songs are saying, the overall experience eventually falters from insouciant to insufferable. It will be interesting to see what the Magnetic Field's return to synth will bring, and whether or not Stephin Merritt will have enough time to gain more perspective on love to keep writing so prolifically about it. When it comes to love and realism, though, perhaps less perspective is best.
Frequency: 68.0
Contact Aitor Zabalegui at azabalegui@scu.edu or at (408) 554-1918.