“The Magnetic Fields are returning to their signature mix of synth and acoustic sounds,” the band said today, announcing the release of their first LP featuring new songs for Merge Records since 1999’s 69 Love Songs. On March 6, Stephin Merritt and co. will follow up the final set in their “synth-free trilogy” — last year’s Realism — with Love at the Bottom of the Sea, 15 short songs that clock in under three minutes each.
Merritt elaborated on his return to keyboard-based songwriting for the record: “Instead of using a synthesizer as a melodic instrument, much of the time I used it as a compositional destructive mechanism, something eating away at the apparent order of my perfectionist arrangements.”
The March release of Love at the Bottom of the Sea will also be followed by a 21-date U.S. tour that will extend through mid-April. Check out the itinerary here and the tracklist below:
01. “God Wants Us to Wait”
02. “Andrew in Drag”
03. “Your Girlfriend’s Face”
04. “Born For Love”
05. “I’d Go Anywhere with Hugh”
06. “Infatuation (With Your Gyration)”
07. “The Only Boy in Town”
08. “The Machine in Your Hand”
09. “Goin’ Back to the Country”
10. “I’ve Run Away to Join the Fairies”
11. “The Horrible Party”
12. “My Husband’s Pied-a-Terre”
13. “I Don’t Like Your Tone”
14. “Quick!”
15. “All She Cares About Is Mariachi”