Category:
Rock / Pop

Try if you like:
6ths, Aluminum Group, Momus, Polvo

In 1999 The Magnetic Fields released the wonderfully unique 69 Love Songs, composed originally as the score to a drag contest. More than 12 years later, Stephin Merritt and co. return to Merge Records to release their follow-up, Love at the Bottom of the Sea; a fun and quirky cousin to 69 Love Songs. 

Love at the Bottom of the Sea is an ode to whimsy and to falling in and out of love in every way humans can: with boys and girls and coke heads and models and drag queens and sharks with terrible attitudes. It is a short, sweet little album (15 songs clocking in at just shy of 35 min) that gets better with repeated listens. It makes an odd first impression, especially to a listener unused to Merritt’s low drawl, but makes up for its bumpy start with a juicy centre. 'Andrew In Drag', 'Goin’ Back to the Country', 'Quick' and 'All She Cares About is Mariachi' are the strongest, with the latter employing some of the cleverest song writing on the album. Who but Stephin Merritt has the balls to rhyme Mariachi with Saatchi and Saatchi. 

Love at the Bottom of the Sea, is, despite its strengths, not a particularly surprising album. In the years between the Merge releases the band released three albums on Nonesuch that covered a variety of musical territories, and the once-again synthed out pop sound of Love at the Bottom of the Sea takes us back to the early 2000s and feels like a sonic step back, or at least in a comfortable direction. It's like coming home, being so thrilled to be there, but also kind of wishing that the bathroom was lavender and not brown.