I Love It!!
I don't disagree with the other reviews. I'll add though that I think the album is beautifully realized,
if certainly a departure in 'tone' and sound for MF. I thought 'I' (despite some fine moments) was at times too precious and pessimistic without sufficient thematic or sound variation, or enough leavening humor and irony. I think 'Distortion' though has great balance. I hope long term fans can get beyond-- or even embrace-- the loud sound feedback effects and weigh the album on its own merits. It does evoke Jesus and Mary Chain, but isn't slavishly imitative either. The clever/complex way it's put together and holds together even recalls for me Nilsson's best '60's work like "Nilsson Sings Newman," if not of course sounding the same. Some of lyrics (not unusual for Merritt of course) evoke as much Sondheim or Brecht/Weill as contemporary power pop.
This album, like all his best stuff I think, is as much about the form of pop music as the content: he's one of the very best at deconstructing and reconstructing those forms. Early yet-- but I think this may rank just below '69 Love Songs' in my estimation, which means it's great!! I'm loving this more with each listen.
Not for everybody
but definitely for me! A different approach than one may be used to from Merritt and Co, but there's a lot of heart here. I'm still a believer.
The Magnetic Fields have been around for the better part of two decades, keeping fans happy by releasing albums every couple of years. Distortion comes to us a little less than 4 years after the band's previous album, i. Both i and its predecessor, 69 Love Songs, were concept albums, wrapped around a basic idea. It should come as no surprise then that Distortion follows in much the same way. Though there is no thematic ribbon that ties the songs together, the actual album is in fact a mess of distortion and feedback.
View product details at Amazon
