Quickies
The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies vinyl box set is five 7” EPs comprising twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds, performed by Merritt and band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo, along with longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman.
The sharp wit of veteran songwriter Stephin Merritt thrives in brevity across a collection of short songs that range from 12 seconds to an epic two-and-a-half minutes.
Along with various high-concept side projects over the years, many of the Magnetic Fields' albums have been organized around an over-arching theme, giving them some rules or parameters to limit Merritt's boundless output.
The Magnetic Fields' first album since 2017's sprawling 50 Song Memoir takes the exact opposite approach: Quickies is an eclectic company of...
Stephen Merritt and company couldn’t have planned this better had they known in advance that a global pandemic would sweep the world, sending everyone into social lockdown and conditioning themselves for an ever-more depressing new normal.