The Magnetic Fields

Quickies NONESUCH

A blink-and-you-miss-it revue from alt.folk’s conceptual masters.

Over the course of several landmark works of weighty conceptual genius – notably 1999’s 69 Love Songs and 2017’s 50 Song Memoir – Magnetic Fields’ mastermind Stephin Merritt mastered the art of the ‘quickie’, those throwaway song snippets that go straight for the jugular of a melody then race off before the trap snaps shut.

For the latest of many brilliant themed records, he’s written 28 such tune teases, lasting just 47 minutes and acting as a taster menu for his many and varied styles. Ukelele-led, we skip between ambient alt.country (Castles Down A Dirt Road), mournful piano anarchy (The Day The Politicians Died), minimalist rock noir (Love Gone Wrong), barroom jazz (Evil Rhythm) and fuzzladen synth goth on (I Want To Join A) Biker Gang.

By turns romantic and ribald, the format allows Merritt’s dark, bawdy humour to run wild. There are 17-second death pacts and minute-long satanic tributes. The Biggest Tits In History gradually unveils itself as a two-minute bird pun; Let’s Get Drunk Again (And Get Divorced) attempts to correct booze-inspired matrimony with more liquor; Kill A Man A Week proposes a methodical solution to male privilege; and I Wish I Were A Prostitute Again pines for the privileges of the high-end courtesan.

A torrid tumble of greatness, it’s like The Beatles’ White Album’s in a hurry. ■■■■■■■■■■