Because I can't ha e this conversation with Owen right now

[stroopfaced]

Love At The Bottom of The Sea - The Magnetic Fields

I have no spellcheck.

A Post Which No-One Cares About

I like it but, eh. Much like Realism.

This album is a nice return to their classic noisy sound. There are many sounds and they make you want to move. The downside of this is that you really need to listen to it on decent speakers/headphones or it becomes kind of painful. It's maybe a little too busy but overall I like it. It's also got a kind of British sound to it and a smattering of British vocab used to good lyrical effect.

Ah, the lyrics. As usual we have a great mix of happy/sad, cynical, funny, romantic, spitefull, sexy genius. Maybe not as much genius as we're used to though. There are only a couple of stand out great lines on this one as opposed to at least one per song. It's also slightly darker - you get the feeling that someone has been really screwed over recently

Now, as a super massive TMF fan I have a checklist of things that I hope for in a new album. Happily, this album checks all the boxes:

• Slightly awkward use of the word infinite or infinitely. Merritt seems to think that you can put these words  anywhere and rhym them with anything. This album gets it done in the first track with "So I've taken a contract out on y'all, for making me feel I infinitely small." I'm pretty sure that by this point it must be deliberate. 
• A couple of really super gay songs.
• Playing with gender.
• At least one song that includes supernatural beings,
• At least one song that basically ads up to 'Yeah, I'd like to fuck you.'
• At least one song about sex and innocence.
• That awesome I LOVE YOU BUT I'M FACEPALMING RIGHT NOW Stephin Merrit moment. The bit that takes everything about this band, squashes it I to a few words and then delivers it with no shame. The bit where you can't decide whether it's meant to be ironic or not. This album nails it with the first line in 'I've Run Away To Join The Fairies'. Really guys, really?

Overall I like it a lot but it's no Distortion or 69 Love Songs. I kind of get the feeling that maybe these gus have had enough of making music but they just keep going because they can. I personally think that the shortness of the songs and the high number of one-liner endings (asoposed to nice fade outs) feels a bit half arsed. I suppose really the thing is that there is nothing really new here. I'm used to finding thier new albums familier but uncomfortable at first. I liked this one straight away with out having to deal with any new style or genre fun. Again, I think that feels lazy.

I know that's a shitty thing for me to say, fair play if they want to go back to their old sound - it works. I just think it would be nice to see them take a few years off and come back with something really great - or not come back at all. They've done plenty.

Another Gothic Archies album would be pretty sweet.