Drag Another Cliche Howling from the Vaults
Unsolicited preliminary review of The Magnetic Fields new CD, i: I deliberately didn't read any reviews until after I listened to it, and now that I have I must disagree. Actually, I only looked at Amazon and Pitchfork. There seems to be two schools of thought on Stephin Merritt--either he's a lyrical god or a blithering idiot. I offer a third way. Really clever. Not "clever clever," as the Brits say. The insipid and hilarious rhymes. The funky sounds--lots of simple guitars, weirdo synths, and, is that a ukelele? I can't imagine more true love songs than these. I really enjoyed it (twice) on my long drive yesterday and even stopped off at the Wexner Center box office for tickets to their June 30th show. So there. Plus, all the songs start with "i" which is something I didn't notice right away.