Nonesuch Records releases the Magnetic Fields’ Quickies on May 15, 2020. The set—available on five vinyl EPs, one CD, and digitally—features twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds. A video of a song from the album, “The Day the Politicians Died,” can be seen below.
Stephin Merritt talks about the Quickies concept: “I’ve been reading a lot of very short fiction, and enjoyed writing 101 Two Letter Words, the poetry book about the shortest words you can use in Scrabble. Also I’ve been listening to a lot of French baroque harpsichord music. Harpsichord doesn’t lend itself to languor. I’ve been thinking about one instrument at a time, playing for about a minute or so and then stopping, and narratives that are only a few lines long. To make the album, I used a lot of small notebooks, so when I reach the bottom of the page, I’ve only gone a short way.”
Quickies features Merritt and other Magnetic Fields band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo, joined by longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman.
Album set pre orders are available now at the Nonesuch Store, where “The Day the Politicians Died” may be downloaded immediately; the song is also available to stream at Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services. Pre-orders from the Nonesuch Store include an exclusive, limited-edition print autographed by Merritt. Quickies is also available for preorder at iTunes and Amazon.