Since 1989, the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt has been blending the electronic pop of Gary Numan with the lo-tech layered keyboards of Kraftwerk, creating songs that are at once creative and shamelessly catchy. His songs are like every nice pop song you've ever heard-- memorable, nice to listen to, and, invariably, about love. His sound, on the other hand, is totally unique. The unrestrained use of cheap drum machines and old Yamaha keyboards and sequencers is stunning. So is the fact that his songs lack any organic instrumentation-- there's not a single stringed instrument to be found on his records.
The House of Tomorrow is a five- track EP released back in 1992 that's just been picked up and reissued by Superchunk's glorious Merge Records out of North Carolina. Thanks to their scooping up this EP, along with the Magnetic Fields' classic Holiday, Merge now owns the band's entire catalog. So be it, then. If I had my pick of labels to own my entire back catalog, Merge would be near the top of the list.
The House of Tomorrow is standard fare from Merritt; five songs, countless keyboards, a touch of reverb, and tracks as outstanding as the ones on Layne Staley's arms. The problem with Merritt's work, though, is that there's a pretty substantial amount of sameness to it. What I mean is, if you listen to a lot of Magnetic Fields records, pretty soon they all start to sound alike. Of course, it's always a pleasing listen. After all, who could get sick of love songs?
