Always experimenting, but consistently sincere, you can always trust The Magnetic Fields aren’t just playing a one off. In the past they pulled out all the stops on 69 Love Songs, an album so comprehensive it spread across three discs and many, many inconsolable hours of your life. Then came Distortion, a much different tune, paying homage to shoegaze drone-fuzz and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Now on Realism, The Magnetic Fields’ third Nonesuch release, singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt takes the band into ersatz production on what is ostensibly a variety-folk concept album.
