The Magnetic Fields

Submitted by nonesuch on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 19:06
Sort Name
Magnetic Fields
Artist Position
300.00
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Biography (Excerpt)

The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies five 7" vinyl box set is twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds, performed by Merritt and band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo, along with longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman. Also available on a single CD.

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10
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No
Facebook URL
https://www.facebook.com/MagneticFields/
Twitter URL
https://twitter.com/themagfields
Instagram URL
https://www.instagram.com/themagfields/
Youtube URL
https://smarturl.it/MagneticFields.YT

The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies will be released on Nonesuch Records on May 15, 2020. The five 7" vinyl box set features twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds. Preorders of the vinyl box set, also on a single CD, are available now in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of "The Day the Politicians Died," the video for which can be seen below. The song is also available to stream at Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services. Nonesuch Store pre-orders also include an exclusive, limited-edition print autographed by Merritt.

Merritt explains his thinking behind the Quickies concept: “I’ve been reading a lot of very short fiction, and I enjoyed writing 101 Two-Letter Words, the poetry book about the shortest words you can use in Scrabble. And I’ve been listening to a lot of French baroque harpsichord music. Harpsichord doesn’t lend itself to languor. So I’ve been thinking about one instrument at a time, playing for about a minute or so and then stopping, and I’ve been thinking of narratives that are only a few lines long.

“Also, I had been using a lot of small notebooks, so when I reach the bottom of the page, I’ve only gone a short way. Now that I’m working on a different album, I’m enforcing a large notebook rule so that I don’t do Quickies twice in a row.”

Quickies features Merritt and other Magnetic Fields band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo. They are joined by longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman.

To date, Stephin Merritt has written and recorded twelve Magnetic Fields albums, including the beloved 69 Love Songs and the 2017 critically acclaimed Nonesuch box set, 50 Song Memoir, which chronicled the first fifty years of the songwriter’s life with one song per year. New York magazine called the box set “a celebration of Merritt’s sky-high range as a writer and a player, through the exploration of the circumstances that helped cultivate it … a delightful flip through the untold back pages of one of rock’s most singular voices, and, all in all, the best damned Magnetic Fields album in the last ten years.” Merritt has also composed original music and lyrics for several music theater pieces, including an off-Broadway stage musical of Neil Gaiman’s novel Coraline, for which he received an Obie Award. In 2014, Merritt composed songs and background music for the first musical episode of public radio’s This American Life. Stephin Merritt also releases albums under the band names the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes.

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Latest Release

  • May 29, 2020

    The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies five 7" vinyl box set is twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds, performed by Merritt and band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo, along with longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman. "Miniature gems," says the Guardian. "Extraordinary."

Releases

News

  • February 16, 2023

    Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores, will take place on Saturday, April 22, 2023, and included among the special releases on that day are the previously unreleased full-length live recording of The Black Keys' very first show at Beachland Tavern in Cleveland in 2002, on tangerine-colored vinyl; the first-ever vinyl release of The Magnetic Fields’ 2004 Nonesuch debut album, i, on gold-colored vinyl; and an alternate version of Wilco's landmark album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, featuring unique performances of all eleven songs, originally released as a bonus CD with the September 2022 issue of Uncut.

  • October 27, 2022

    The Magnetic Fields will tour the US next spring following a four-city tour of Latin America this December. The band closes out 2022 with concerts in Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina. The spring run of US shows starts with two nights in Denver, March 17 and 18, followed by dates in Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Austin, St. Louis (two nights), Cleveland, and Pittsburgh (two nights), culminating at City Winery Hudson Valley on April 3.

Tour

Wed, Mar 22
Dallas, TX
Kessler Theater
Wed, Mar 22
Dallas, TX
Kessler Theater
Thu, Mar 23
Dallas, TX
Kessler Theater
Thu, Mar 23
Dallas, TX
Kessler Theater
Fri, Mar 24
Houston, TX
The Heights Theater
Fri, Mar 24
Houston, TX
The Heights Theater
Sat, Mar 25
Austin, TX
The Paramount Theatre
Sat, Mar 25
Austin, TX
The Paramount Theatre
Mon, Mar 27
St. Louis, MO
City Winery @ City Foundry STL
Mon, Mar 27
St. Louis, MO
City Winery @ City Foundry STL
Tue, Mar 28
St. Louis, MO
City Winery @ City Foundry STL
Tue, Mar 28
St. Louis, MO
City Winery @ City Foundry STL
Wed, Mar 29
Cleveland, OH
Music Box Supper Club
Wed, Mar 29
Cleveland, OH
Music Box Supper Club
Fri, Mar 31
Pittsburgh, PA
City Winery
Fri, Mar 31
Pittsburgh, PA
City Winery
Sat, Apr 01
Pittsburgh, PA
City Winery
Sat, Apr 01
Pittsburgh, PA
City Winery
Mon, Apr 03
Montgomery, NY
City Winery Hudson Valley
Mon, Apr 03
Montgomery, NY
City Winery Hudson Valley

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About The Magnetic Fields

  • The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies will be released on Nonesuch Records on May 15, 2020. The five 7" vinyl box set features twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds. Preorders of the vinyl box set, also on a single CD, are available now in the Nonesuch Store with an instant download of "The Day the Politicians Died," the video for which can be seen below. The song is also available to stream at Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services. Nonesuch Store pre-orders also include an exclusive, limited-edition print autographed by Merritt.

    Merritt explains his thinking behind the Quickies concept: “I’ve been reading a lot of very short fiction, and I enjoyed writing 101 Two-Letter Words, the poetry book about the shortest words you can use in Scrabble. And I’ve been listening to a lot of French baroque harpsichord music. Harpsichord doesn’t lend itself to languor. So I’ve been thinking about one instrument at a time, playing for about a minute or so and then stopping, and I’ve been thinking of narratives that are only a few lines long.

    “Also, I had been using a lot of small notebooks, so when I reach the bottom of the page, I’ve only gone a short way. Now that I’m working on a different album, I’m enforcing a large notebook rule so that I don’t do Quickies twice in a row.”

    Quickies features Merritt and other Magnetic Fields band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo. They are joined by longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman.

    To date, Stephin Merritt has written and recorded twelve Magnetic Fields albums, including the beloved 69 Love Songs and the 2017 critically acclaimed Nonesuch box set, 50 Song Memoir, which chronicled the first fifty years of the songwriter’s life with one song per year. New York magazine called the box set “a celebration of Merritt’s sky-high range as a writer and a player, through the exploration of the circumstances that helped cultivate it … a delightful flip through the untold back pages of one of rock’s most singular voices, and, all in all, the best damned Magnetic Fields album in the last ten years.” Merritt has also composed original music and lyrics for several music theater pieces, including an off-Broadway stage musical of Neil Gaiman’s novel Coraline, for which he received an Obie Award. In 2014, Merritt composed songs and background music for the first musical episode of public radio’s This American Life. Stephin Merritt also releases albums under the band names the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes.

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