The Magnetic Fields Join The Chain Gang
Wednesday May 07, 2008 @ 09:00 AM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

By Scott Bryson

Magnetic Fields lynchpin Stephin Merritt is nearly at the end of a day of phone interviews and it's clear from the resignation in his voice that he'd rather be doing anything else.
   "We're having a spectacular gothic rainstorm, which is actually quite neat," he labours, presumably looking out the window of his California home. "I like it. It seems to have died down now, but there was lightning and thunder and sheets of rain battering the air conditioner… In fact, the sun is trying to poke through the clouds."
   Merritt pauses and considers the possibility that a religious experience may be imminent.

Magnetic Fields

   "Which religion?" he asks himself. "Hmmm… The sun is poking through the clouds, and there is Ganesh! Yes, Ganesh! I have got religion. I now believe in the objective reality of the Hindu pantheon."
   Merritt's flare for the dramatic hasn't been a matter for debate since the penned one of modern music's most beguiling undertakings — 69 Love Songs — back in 1999. From that triple-disc opus, Merritt and the other Fields (Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson and John Woo) moved on to i, another concept in form, comprised of 14 tracks that all began with the title letter.
   With Distortion, the band's latest full-length, the topic of concepts finds its way to the forefront again. Merritt has asserted in the past that The Jesus And Mary Chain's 1985 album, Psychocandy — a record of simple pop gems drenched in searing guitar feedback — was the last original piece of music he'd heard. With that declaration looming in front of him, it seemed reasonable to Merritt that he should try and make its sequel.
   "I did achieve it," he says of Distortion. "It does remind everyone of Psychocandy."
   Faced with the suggestion that he might be stuck in a conceptual rut — that he might be unable to make another album that doesn't have some sort of fanciful theme attached to it — Merritt is quick to point out that the distortion shouldn't be considered a facet of the creation.
   "This one has no concept, it's just a production style. All records have production styles. It's just that this one is a bit more extreme than your run-of-the-mill album.
   "OK," he admits, correcting himself, "a lot more extreme."
   In trying to match The Jesus And Mary Chain aesthetic, Merritt coaxed feedback out of every one of the band's instruments, from guitar to cello. The result is a constant methodical whirl and hiss that blankets every track and renders the vocals foggy and muted. Below that surface wail — should listeners take the time to search for them — are the same breed of brazen pop songs that Merritt's been making for more than a decade.
   "Distortion, distortion and more distortion," he says, in describing his aim. "We took signals form the instruments and played them too loudly into circuitry that couldn't handle it and then fed it back into the same circuitry to get feedback and distortion.
   "We didn't play the songs live in the studio. Only once did we ever make the mistake of having two of The Magnetic Fields in the same room at the same time… It was a tempo disaster and I never wanted to do that again.
   "Now, we only make records entirely out of overdubbing. It took a year-and-a-half to mix and master the record. Everything conceivable has been done to the sounds to make them as shrill and shrieky as they are… in artistic and beautiful ways."
   Distortion supplied a number of firsts for The Magnetic Fields, but it also marked a reunion of sorts. Shirley Simms, lead vocalist on several of 69 Love Songs' most memorable tracks, returned to the fold and took on half of the new album's songs. The decision to add Simms was a late one, occurring nearly a year into the process, and after Merritt had already recorded himself singing the entire disc.
   "Shirley has a more pop voice than I do and I wanted more vocal variety and also more lyric clarity," he offers as an explanation.
   After a year-and-a-half of recording, editing and last-minute overhauls, Distortion is finally a finished product. But Merritt isn't afforded any time to savour his successes.
   "Right now I'm working on writing a new Magnetic Fields album," he laments. "From my perspective, it's all the time — all I do is make Magnetic Fields albums — and rehearse for the tour and do interviews."