The Magnetic Fields - Quickies (2020) [Official Digital Download]

The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies album comprises of 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.

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.

TRACKLIST

1. The Magnetic Fields - Castles of America
2. The Magnetic Fields - The Biggest Tits in History
3. The Magnetic Fields - The Day the Politicians Died
4. The Magnetic Fields - Castle Down a Dirt Road
5. The Magnetic Fields - Bathroom Quickie
6. The Magnetic Fields - My Stupid Boyfriend
7. The Magnetic Fields - Love Gone Wrong
8. The Magnetic Fields - Favorite Bar
9. The Magnetic Fields - Kill a Man a Week
10. The Magnetic Fields - Kraftwerk in a Blackout
11. The Magnetic Fields - When She Plays the Toy Piano
12. The Magnetic Fields - Death Pact (Let's Make A)
13. The Magnetic Fields - I've Got a Date With Jesus
14. The Magnetic Fields - Come, Life, Shaker Life!
15. The Magnetic Fields - (I Want to Join A) Biker Gang
16. The Magnetic Fields - Rock 'n' Roll Guy
17. The Magnetic Fields - You've Got a Friend in Beelzebub
18. The Magnetic Fields - Let's Get Drunk Again (And Get Divorced)
19. The Magnetic Fields - The Best Cup of Coffee in Tennessee
20. The Magnetic Fields - When the Brat Upstairs Got a Drum Kit
21. The Magnetic Fields - The Price You Pay
22. The Magnetic Fields - The Boy in the Corner
23. The Magnetic Fields - Song of the Ant
24. The Magnetic Fields - I Wish I Had Fangs and a Tail
25. The Magnetic Fields - Evil Rhythm
26. The Magnetic Fields - She Says Hello
27. The Magnetic Fields - The Little Robot Girl
28. The Magnetic Fields - I Wish I Were a Prostitute Again



Thanks to the Original customer.