The Magnetic Fields - Love At The Bottom Of The Sea
- Written by Kenny McMurtrie
A new bunch of 15 fun songs from Stephin Merritt and co. aka The Magnetic Fields - not much chance of this being a poor album is there? Synths are back in the fold on Love At The Bottom Of The Sea and the witty and concise lyrics as sharp as ever, so these are two minute nuggets of pop genius that bear repeated plays. Covering the serious subjects of new girlfriend assassination ('Your Girlfriend's Face'), fancying your mate in a dress ('Andrew In Drag') and last minute sexual abstinence ('God Wants Us To Wait') all get a look in in the first six minutes.
A properly danceable tune crops up in the shape of 'Infatuation (With Your Gyration)' and lengthening it by a minute or so wouldn't have raised any admonitory eyebrows so an extended single-version wouldn't go amiss thanks very much. Despite having listened to this many times over the past month it's nowhere near boring me and bears favourable comparison with the likes of 69 Love Songs or I. In fact it's probably an ideal spot at which to first acquaint yourself with the group's work and the seek out the earlier albums off the back of it. At the risk of garnering opprobrium I'll compare them to Chumbawumba in a pre-'Tub Thumping' incarnation for those of you that may need a reference point of that sort.
'The Machine In Your Hand' is probably my personal favourite of the offerings on display here but just like that old joke about Roy Castle and a credit card it's hard to fit anything between the individual songs, such is the strength of their construction. May they manage to rise from the depths and continue producing such quality for years to come.