Book The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields are the band behind 69 Love Songs, the 1999 three-volume concept album that remains a landmark of indie pop and showcases songwriter Stephin Merritt's wit and melodic gift. Merritt founded and leads the group as its principal writer, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist, naming it after the André Breton and Philippe Soupault novel Les Champs Magnétiques. The band began as his studio project, and a live lineup took shape in Boston with his longtime friend Claudia Gonson; today it includes Merritt, Gonson, Sam Davol and John Woo, with frequent guest vocalist Shirley Simms. Their 1991 debut single, "100,000 Fireflies," and early albums Distant Plastic Trees, The Wayward Bus, The Charm of the Highway Strip, Holiday and Get Lost were built on synthesizers. After 69 Love Songs came a "no-synth" trilogy of i (2004), Distortion (2008) and Realism (2010), followed by Love at the Bottom of the Sea (2012). In 2017 Merritt released 50 Song Memoir, with one song for each year of his life, and Quickies, a set of very short songs, arrived in 2020. Concerts mix Merritt's deep baritone with Gonson's vocals and spare, chamber-style arrangements.