Description
Nonesuch Records releases the Magnetic Fieldsrsquo Quickies, a set of five vinyl EPs that features twentyeight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirtyfive seconds. Quickies also will be available on CD and digitally.Merritt explains his thinking behind the Quickies concept ldquoIrsquove been reading a lot of very short fiction, and I enjoyed writing 101 TwoLetter Words, the poetry book about the shortest words you can use in Scrabble. And Irsquove been listening to a lot of French baroque harpsichord music. Harpsichord doesnrsquot lend itself to languor. So Irsquove been thinking about one instrument at a time, playing for about a minute or so and then stopping, and Irsquove 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, Irsquove only gone a short way. Now that Irsquom working on a different album, Irsquom enforcing a large notebook rule so that I donrsquot do Quickies twice in a row.rdquoQuickies 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 songwriterrsquos life with one song per year. New York magazine called the box set lsquoa celebration of Merrittrsquos skyhigh range as a writer and a player, through the exploration of the circumstances that helped cultivate it hellip a delightful flip through the untold back pages of one of rockrsquos most singular voices, and, all in all, the best damned Magnetic Fields album in the last ten years.rsquo Merritt has also composed original music and lyrics for several music theatre pieces, including an offBroadway stage musical of Neil Gaimanrsquos novel Coraline, for which he received an Obie Award. In 2014, Merritt composed songs and background music for the first musical episode of public radiorsquos This American Life. Stephin Merritt also releases albums under the band names the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes.
