Magnetic Fields
Holiday
House of Tomorrow EP
"I Don't Believe You" b/w "When I'm Looking, You're Not There"
Merge Records

The songs of Stephin Merritt, Magnetic Fields' brainchild and songwriter, are rife with contradictions. Simple lyrics, displaying complex (nearly always negative) emotions are sung in a voice so detached it makes the Speak and Spell sound like Pavarotti. Add to this some of the most ridiculously upbeat music around, and you end up with a formula Merritt has used to craft dozens of songs that can best be described as America's answer to The Smiths.

The recently-reissued Holiday LP (from 1994) and the House of Tomorrow EP (1993) show Merritt at the top of his pop game. From Holiday's shoegazy "Desert Island" to the capering, distorted guitar work on House of Tomorrow, Merritt hits the mark in nearly every respect, spinning simple guitar and drum loops into a complex musical fabric that'll have you singing, "You didn't have to say that I'm no good, 'cause I know," all the way into next week.

Admittedly, Holiday does get a bit long near the end, and it's not nearly as good as 1994's country-songs-about-roads album, The Charm of the Highway Strip. It does, however, contain "Desert Island," "Deep Sea Diving Suit," "Strange Powers" and "The Flowers She Sent and the Flowers She Said She Sent," which are all among the band's best songs.

Like Holiday, House of Tomorrow also is a bit samey, as all the songs are in the same time signature and use many of the same loops (just played on different instruments or mic'd differently). Its brevity is its saving grace, however.

Though both of the re-issues overcome issues of homogeny and end up being must-haves in the collection of any pop music fan, the "I Don't Believe You" 7" is a must-avoid. The first new Magnetic Fields material in over two years, the record drifts a bit too close to the sound of MF's last (and worst) release, 1995's Get Lost. The songwriting is much weaker than the lyric-writing this time, which means Merritt fails to achieve the irony that made his pre-Get Lost material so memorable. Maybe the forthcoming EP and album will restore some respect to Merritt's oeuvre, but until then, it's best to stick with Holiday, The House of Tomorrow EP and the still-available Charm of the Highway Strip.

— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)