The Magnetic Fields announce 'Quickies' & City Winery residencies (listen to new song)
The Magnetic Fields have announced Quickies, a collection of 28 short songs, all of which are between thirteen seconds and 2:35. Quickies will be released as a five vinyl 7″ EP set on May 15 via Nonesuch, as well as on CD and digital. “I’ve been reading a lot of very short fiction, and I enjoyed writing 101 Two-Letter Words, the poetry book about the shortest words you can use in Scrabble,” says main man Stephin Merritt. “And I’ve been listening to a lot of French baroque harpsichord music. Harpsichord doesn’t lend itself to languor. So I’ve been thinking about one instrument at a time, playing for about a minute or so and then stopping, and I’ve been thinking of narratives that are only a few lines long.
Merritt also adds, “I had been using a lot of small notebooks, so when I reach the bottom of the page, I’ve only gone a short way. Now that I’m working on a different album, I’m enforcing a large notebook rule so that I don’t do Quickies twice in a row.” You can listen to “The Day the Politicians Died,” featuring lead vocals by Claudia Gonson set against spare piano, below.
The Magnetic Fields have also announced a series of residencies at City Wineries around the country, including Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, DC, Philadelphia and four nights at the soon-to-open new NYC City Winery on June 28 – July 1. Tickets for the NYC shows — and the rest of the residencies — will be on sale soon.
All dates are listed below
The Magnetic Fields – Quickies:
01 Castles of America
02 The Biggest Tits in History
03 The Day the Politicians Died
04 Castle Down a Dirt Road
05 Bathroom Quickie
06 My Stupid Boyfriend
07 Love Gone Wrong
08 Favorite Bar
09 Kill a Man a Week
10 Kraftwerk in a Blackout
11 When She Plays the Toy Piano
12 Death Pact (Let’s Make A)
13 I’ve Got a Date with Jesus
14 Come, Life, Shaker Life!
15 (I Want to Join A) Biker Gang
16 Rock ‘n’ Roll Guy
17 You’ve Got a Friend in Beelzebub
18 Let’s Get Drunk Again (And Get Divorced)
19 The Best Cup of Coffee in Tennessee
20 When the Brat Upstairs Got a Drum Kit
21 The Price You Pay
22 The Boy in the Corner
23 Song of the Ant
24 I Wish I Had Fangs and a Tail
25 Evil Rhythm
26 She Says Hello
27 The Little Robot Girl
28 I Wish I Were a Prostitute Again
The Magnetic Fields – 2020 Tour Dates
06-01 Chicago, IL – City Winery
06-02 Chicago, IL – City Winery
06-03 Chicago, IL – City Winery
06-04 Chicago, IL – City Winery
06-06 Nashville, TN – City Winery
06-08 Atlanta, GA – City Winery
06-09 Atlanta, GA – City Winery
06-11 Boston, MA – City Winery
06-12 Boston, MA – City Winery
06-13 Boston, MA – City Winery
06-19 Washington, DC – City Winery
06-20 Washington, DC – City Winery
06-21 Washington, DC – City Winery
06-24 Philadelphia, PA – City Winery
06-25 Philadelphia, PA – City Winery
06-26 Philadelphia, PA – City Winery
06-28 New York, NY – City Winery
06-29 New York, NY – City Winery
06-30 New York, NY – City Winery
07-01 New York, NY – City Winery
