Magnetic Fields - Love at the Bottom of the Sea

  by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 18 / 3 / 2012

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Review

Ever since Stephin Merritt and his bandmates released 'Realism', an album consisting of modern folk songs, I have wondered where Magnetic Fields would go next. After the success of '69 Love Songs' at the turn of the century, Stephin decided to throw all the synthesizers out the window, and embarked on a “no synth” journey for the following three albums ('I', released in 2004, 'Distortion', released in 2008 and 'Realism', released in 2010). These albums were all closer to the live setting of the band, as they always play with acoustic instruments only (because of a hearing condition that Stephin suffers from), apart from 'Distortion', which sounded more like a Jesus and The Mary Chain album than a Magnetic Fields album. With the recording of 'Love at the Bottom of the Sea',the band’s tenth album, the synths are back in business, big time. The first single, 'Andrew in Drag', made me think of earlier Magnetic Fields albums like 'Holiday' and 'Get Lost', with its blip-blop synths showing the way, and listening to the album, I can say that the single was very representative of their “new” sound. The opening track, 'God Wants Us to Wait', blends the synthesizers with the sound of 'Distortion', making this one of the peaks of the album, but there are a lot of great songs here, be sure of that. 'Your Girlfriend’s Face', 'I’d Go Anywhere with Hugh', 'Goin’ Back to the Country' and 'Quick!' are already classics for me, and the only track that I usually skip is 'Born For Love', which is too offbeat and slightly boring. Now I’m looking forward to see the band play here in Stockholm in May (my fourth Magnetic Fields show), and to experience these electronic songs in their minimal live setting. Oh please, let these two months pass by quickly…

Track Listing:-

1 Your Girlfriend's Face
2 Andrew In Drag
3 God Wants Us To Wait
4 Born For Love
5 I'd Go Anywhere With Hugh
6 Infatuation (With Your Gyration)
7 The Only Boy In Town
8 The Machine In Your Hand
9 Goin' Back To The Country
10 I've Run Away To Join The Fairies
11 The Horrible Party
12 My Husband's Pied - A - Terre
13 I Don't Like Your Tone
14 Quick!
15 All She Cares About Is Mariachi

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/MagneticField
http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/
https://twitter.com/TheMagFields

Label Links:-

http://www.dominorecordco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DominoRecordC
https://twitter.com/DominoRecordCo
https://www.youtube.com/user/DominoRec
https://plus.google.com/+DominoRecords