Distorted vision

In case this is the first thing you've read about The Magnetic Fields' Distortion, here's what you have to know: For the band's most recent album, it has buried its usual pop compositions under hissing distortion and chilly electronic effects a la shoegaze-pioneers The Jesus and Mary Chain. \nHow Distortion, then, measures up to the Jesus and Mary Chain has drawn much of the critics' focus -- but, really, the comparison isn't particularly illuminating. The Jesus and Mary Chain made canonical albums that spawned an entire genre -- saying Distortion isn't as good as The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1985 album Psychocandy is like saying a pop-rock group's latest effort isn't as good as The Beatles' Revolver. Distortion is a follower's shoegaze genre album, so we should compare it to the work of other shoegaze bands -- and, for that, we need to look at "the fuzz" (the distortion, the droning, the layers of electronic noise that sit atop everything) and "the sweet" (the pretty, often old-fashioned pop melody at the song's core). \nAs far as the fuzz goes, Distortion isn't anything special. Its fuzz doesn't touch the sophistication of recent releases by The Raveonettes and A Place To Bury Strangers, much less a revered masterpiece such as My Bloody Valentine's Loveless. It seems employed less to create a feeling or texture than to say, "Hey, this is a shoegaze album!"\nBut the sweet is something else entirely. The Fields' mastermind Stephin Merritt is one extraordinarily gifted popsmith, and when he's on target (particularly when he's teamed with the lovely voice of Shirley Simms), the results are stunning. "California Girls," "The Nun's Litany" and "Zombie Boy" are witty fun; "Please Stop Dancing" and "Drive On, Driver" are sadly touching and "Too Drunk To Dream" is a stone-cold classic that just begs to be covered by other bands. Merritt's only major misstep is the drab holiday blues song "Mr. Mistletoe," but at least it's short.\nAs noted elsewhere -- the problem with burying such good sweet under layers of fuzz is that one can miss the lyrics. But then, if it were easy, maybe the listener wouldn't give the songs their due attention.