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Biography
other uses|Magnetic field (disambiguation)Infobox musical artist| name = The Magnetic Fields| image = Magnetic-fields-in-concert.jpg| caption = Magnetic Fields. From left to right: John Woo, Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Stephin Merritt.| background = group_or_band| origin = Boston , Massachusetts , USA| genre = Indie pop , synthpop | years_active = 1989–present| label = Feel Good All Over, Merge Records|Merge , Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch | associated_acts = The 6ths , The Gothic Archies , Future Bible Heroes , The Zinnias , Buffalo Rome | website = URL| http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/| current_members = Stephin Merritt Claudia Gonson Sam Davol John Woo (musician)|John Woo Shirley Simms | past_members = Susan Anway The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton novel, Les Champs Magnétiques )Morse, Erik. http://www.interviewmagazine.com/blogs/music/2010-02-11/stephin-merritt-magnetic-fields-/ "The Magnetic Fields Get Real", Interview Magazine'', February 11, 2010. is an American indie pop group founded and led by Stephin Merritt . He is the group's primary songwriter, producer and vocalist, as well as frequent multi-instrumentalist. The Magnetic Fields is essentially a vehicle for Merritt's songwriting, along with various side-projects, such as The 6ths , Future Bible Heroes and The Gothic Archies . While the particular musical style of the band is usually as malleable as Merritt's songwriting, its songs are commonly attributed to pop genres and subgenres: synthpop , indie pop , and noise pop . The band is often also cited as being recognizable by Merrit's lyrics, often about love and often with irregular or neutral gender roles, that are by turns ironic, tongue-in-cheek, bitter, and humorous.
The band released their debut and best known single " 100,000 Fireflies " in 1991, which was typical of the band's earlier career characterized by synthesizer|synthesized instrumentation by Merritt with lead vocals provided by Susan Anway (and then by Stephin Merrit himself from The House of Tomorrow EP onwards). A more traditional band later materialized, currently composed of Merritt, Claudia Gonson , Sam Davol , and John Woo (musician)|John Woo , with occasional guest vocals by Shirley Simms. Their best-known work is the 1999 three-volume concept album 69 Love Songs . It was followed in the succeeding years by a "no-synth" trilogy: i (The Magnetic Fields album)|i (2004), Distortion (The Magnetic Fields album)|Distortion (2008),Thiessen, Brock. http://exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx? csid1=118& csid2=4& fid1=29288 " Magnetic Fields Feeds Back ", and Exclaim! , February 2008. and Realism (The Magnetic Fields album)|Realism (2010).
History
The band began as Merritt's studio project, under the name Buffalo Rome,LD Beghtol, 69 Love Songs, A Field Guide (Continuum, 2006), p. 135. With the help of friend Claudia Gonson , who had played in Merritt's band The Zinnias during high school, a live band was assembled in Boston , where Merritt and Gonson lived, to play Merritt's compositions. The band's first live performance was at T.T. the Bear's Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts , in 1991 where they played to a sparse audience that was expecting to see Galaxie 500 spin-off Magnetophone .
The 1999 triple album 69 Love Songs showcased Merritt's songwriting abilities and the group's musicianship, demonstrated by the use of such varied instruments as ukulele, banjo, accordion, cello, mandolin, flute, xylophone , and Marxophone , in addition to their usual setting of synthesizers, guitars, and effects. The album features vocalists Shirley Simms, Dudley Klute, LD Beghtol|L.D. Beghtol , and Gonson, each of whom sings lead on six songs as well as various backing vocals, plus Daniel Handler (who has written under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket ) on accordion, and longtime collaborator Christopher Ewen (of Future Bible Heroes ) as guest arranger/synthesist. Violinist Ida Pearle makes a brief cameo on "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side."
The band's recent albums, i (Magnetic Fields album)|i (2004) and Distortion (The Magnetic Fields album)|Distortion (2008), both followed the album theme structure of 69 Love Songs : The song titles on i begin with the letter (or, in the case of half the songs' titles, the pronoun) " i (Magnetic Fields album)|I ", whilst Distortion was an experiment in combining noise music with their typically unconventional musical approach. The liner notes claim the album was made without synthesizers. According to an article: "To celebrate the release of Distortion, Merritt and The Magnetic Fields played mini-residencies in cities around the country, culminating with six shows at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music." cite web|url= http://www.theredalert.com/features/magneticfields.php |title=The Magnetic Fields Interview - 2008 |publisher=The Red Alert |date= |accessdate=2012-02-23
Realism (The Magnetic Fields album)|Realism was released in January 2010, concluding what Merritt termed the "no-synth" trilogy (following i and Distortion ).Baron, Zach. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2008/10/interview_magne.php "Interview: Stephin Merritt", The Village Voice'', October 1, 2008. The next album produced will feature synthesisers "almost exclusively".Gourlay, Dom. http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4138845-dis-meets-stephin-merritt "DiS meets The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt", Drowned in Sound , January 23rd, 2010.
In 2010, the documentary film Strange Powers|Strange Powers: Stephen Merritt and the Magnetic Fields made its debut in film festivals around the world. It was directed by Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara . It was shot over a period of 10 years discusses the formation of the band, Stephin's friendship with Claudia Gonson, the production of various albums, and Stephin's move to California from New York. It won the Outfest 2010 Grand Jury Prize for Feature Documentary and Starigrad Paklenice Prize for Directing.cite web|url= http://www.facebook.com/strangepowersfilm? sk=info |title=Strange Powers film info Facebook page. |publisher=Facebook.com |date=2010-10-27 |accessdate=2012-02-23
The band were chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform a rare festival performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)|All Tomorrow's Parties event that he curated in March 2012 in Minehead, England.cite web|url= http://www.atpfestival.com/events/jeffmangum.php |title=ATP curated by Jeff Mangum |publisher=Atpfestival.com |date= |accessdate=2012-02-23
Claudia Gonson & nbsp;– percussion/piano/vocals (and group manager)
Sam Davol & nbsp;– cello/flute
John Woo (musician)|John Woo & nbsp;– banjo/guitar
Shirley Simms & nbsp;– vocals/autoharp/ukulele
Past and current contributors include singers Susan Anway , Dudley Klute , Nell Beram , and LD Beghtol , as well as instrumentalists Johny Blood , Daniel Handler , Chris Ewen and engineer/producer Charles Newman (music producer)|Charles Newman .
Selected discography
main|Stephin Merritt discography#The Magnetic Fields|l1=The Magnetic Fields discography
http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/ The House of Tomorrow, official site of TMF & side projects
http://agingspinsters.blogspot.com/ Aging Spinsters, a Stephin Merritt fan blog
http://stephinsongs.wiw.org/ Stephin Songs, an informative fan site
http://www.strangepowersfilm.com/ Strange Powers, official site of the TMF documentary
Stephin MerrittAuthority control|LCCN=no/2001/007442 DEFAULTSORT:Magnetic Fields, The Category:American pop music groups Category:Synthpop groups Category:Merge Records artists Category:Indie pop groups from Massachusetts Category:Musical groups established in 1989 Category:Article Feedback 5 Category:Musical quartets
