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May 4, 2012Purposefully ridiculous but brilliant.
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Mar 26, 2012The efficiency of his drollness has grown uncanny, in fact, and the creepiness of its perfection is part of the fun.
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Mar 22, 2012It's not so far from under The Shadow, but that doesn't hinder this album a bit.
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Mar 21, 2012This is Merritt in designer mood, playing with layers and music. The joy is found in watching it take shape.
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MagnetMar 16, 2012It merits a mild sigh, but no great surprise, that ... [here is] the Magnetic Fields' first out-and-out novelty record. Fortunately, there are some decent jokes. [No. 85, p.54]
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Mar 15, 2012Their liberal word-cram of mixed meter and sea-shanty pentameter is on full display on instant jaunty novelties.
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Mar 12, 2012Formulas churn out reliable, consistent results, but "reliable and consistent" art doesn't always inspire a passionate response.
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Mar 9, 2012Merritt's merry band has returned to what it does best, capturing snapshots of love from unexpected perspectives in unforeseen ways.
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Mar 8, 2012It's true that Love at the Bottom of the Sea does oscillate sharply in terms of quality, though the stature of its finer moments comfortably overshadow the lesser offspring.
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Mar 8, 2012After these frontloaded highlights [Andrew in Drag, God Wants Us to Wait], it doesn't take long for Love at the Bottom of the Sea to become a rain-boot-worthy slog through water-logged mid-tempo material.
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Mar 6, 2012If there's any particular conceit here, it's Merritt at his wry best, sharpening his pop hooks and keeping songs tightly wound.
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Mar 6, 2012These 15 song-puzzles in 34:20 are sophisticated amusements all, although often the amusement is attenuated and one I get bored with before half its 2:38 is over.
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Mar 6, 2012The 15-track set reclaims the willfully dinky synth-pop sound the Magnetic Fields renounced in recent years in favor of fuzzed-out guitar rock and strummy chamber folk.
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Mar 6, 2012Love At The Bottom Of The Sea is a fun and uncompromising record, but very little of it sticks in the head or the heart.
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Mar 6, 201215 synth-pop exercises, all 2:39 or under, savoring love in all its twisted flavors.
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Mar 5, 2012This is pop music at its wittiest and most concise, yet for all its maturity and refinement, it's hard to believe that an album so youthful could be made by a group of forty-somethings.
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Mar 5, 2012The record is 15 short vignettes about lost, unattainable, suboptimal, or just plain impossible love, and The Fields nail each and every one.
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Mar 5, 2012Love at the Bottom of the Sea is an endearing, comfortable offering from a band that will hopefully do 10 more albums.
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Mar 5, 2012The lyrics are as sharp and malevolent as they've been in ages.
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Mar 2, 2012The tenth Magnetic Fields album sees Stephin Merrit returning to both form and familiar territory.
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Feb 29, 2012The disc largely lacks the memorable song- writing Merritt is known for, and that deficit is only compounded by the misguided production.
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Feb 29, 2012It's not easy to inject humour into songwriting but Merritt does it seamlessly, peppering sweetly sung melodies with just the right amount of acerbic lines--the cynical and the sentimental balanced beautifully.
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Feb 29, 2012It is another collection of charming, infectious pop songs--a solid addition to the band's expansive catalog, and maybe that's the best we can hope for.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 22
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Mixed: 6 out of 22
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Negative: 5 out of 22
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Dec 11, 2014
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Mar 31, 2012
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Mar 18, 2012