{"id":493,"date":"2010-08-10T16:38:44","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T23:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=493"},"modified":"2010-08-10T16:38:44","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T23:38:44","slug":"the-magnetic-fields-realism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2010\/08\/the-magnetic-fields-realism\/","title":{"rendered":"THE MAGNETIC FIELDS + Realism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/THE-MAGNETIC-FIELDS-Realism-M-Review-JanFeb2010.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-494\" title=\"THE-MAGNETIC-FIELDS-Realism-M-Review-JanFeb2010\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/THE-MAGNETIC-FIELDS-Realism-M-Review-JanFeb2010.jpg\" alt=\"THE MAGNETIC FIELDS - Realism\" width=\"400\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/THE-MAGNETIC-FIELDS-Realism-M-Review-JanFeb2010.jpg 400w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/THE-MAGNETIC-FIELDS-Realism-M-Review-JanFeb2010-300x187.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a>THE MAGNETIC FIELDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Realism<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[Nonesuch]<\/p>\n<p>After swathing their songs in bristling feedback for 2008\u2019s <em>Distortion<\/em>, the Magnetic Fields take the opposite approach on their latest. Leader Stephin Merritt calls <em>Realism<\/em> their \u201cfolk album\u201d\u2014but this is variety-show folk with a knowing, occasionally ironic undertone. The instrumentation is mostly acoustic, with guitar, bouzouki, cello, horns and hand percussion. It\u2019s fairly straightforward on the opening \u201cYou Must Be Out of Your Mind,\u201d sighing cello intertwining with the catchy melody while Merritt\u2019s trademark wordplay introduces a biting sentiment. Things get folkier on \u201cWe Are Having a Hootenanny Now,\u201d with group vocals that evoke an earnest early-\u201960s folk-revival song. Pianist Claudia Gonson sings over chiming accompaniment on \u201cThe Doll\u2019s Tea Party,\u201d Shirley Simms returns with a plaintive lead on the mournful \u201cAlways Already Gone,\u201d and Merritt lends a deceptively joyous air to \u201cEverything Is One Big Christmas Tree,\u201d which features a full-throated German chorus. \u2013ED<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE MAGNETIC FIELDS Realism [Nonesuch] After swathing their songs in bristling feedback for 2008\u2019s Distortion, the Magnetic Fields take the opposite approach on their latest. Leader Stephin Merritt calls Realism their \u201cfolk album\u201d\u2014but this is variety-show folk with a knowing, occasionally ironic undertone. The instrumentation is mostly acoustic, with guitar, bouzouki, cello, horns and hand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[196,32,195,194,193],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}