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Feb 25, 2020 By Christopher Roberts The Magnetic Fields

Stephin Merritt’s The Magnetic Fields have announced a new album, Quickies, and shared its first single, “The Day the Politicians Died,” via a video for the track. They have also announced some residencies in various cities. Quickies is due out May 15 via Nonesuch and will be released on vinyl as five EPs or as one CD (plus digitally). The tracklist includes 28 songs in all, each under three minutes long. Check out “The Day the Politicians Died” video below, followed by the album’s tracklist, as well as the tour dates. Above is the cover art. This is all via Pitchfork, who reported the news.

Quickies features Merritt’s bandmates Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo. The album also features Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman. The Magnetic Fields’ last album was 2017’s 50 Song Memoir.

Merritt had this to say in a statement about the album: “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. 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.

“Also, 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.”

Quickies Tracklist:

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 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

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