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For my money, Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields is one of the great lyricists and melodists of the last 20 years. Anyone who can casually rhyme “and drinks come” with “ratfink scum” – without ...

This week AWE music writer Ben Johnson reviews Magnetic Fields' "Distortion," Eels' "Meet the Eels, Vol. 1" and "Meet the Eels, Useless Trinkets" and Josh Kelley's "Special Company." Magnetic Fields ...

Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt is a bit of a hard case, albeit it one with a gift for writing darkly droll, difficult-to-resist pop songs. On "Distortion," Merritt, the auteur behind ...

In the '90s, Stephin Merritt's primary band, The Magnetic Fields, released six albums, climaxing with the three-CD 69 Love Songs. In this decade, it's released just two albums, but the latest was well ...

More so than the titular obfuscations which most immediately mark eighth LP Distortion as a departure from previous work, it’s the knowing affect in Merritt’s songwriting which continues to equally ...