Friday, November 9, 2007

I

Today's Music That Kind Of Fits The Bill, I Guess is I by The Magnetic Fields. Again, no history lesson, let's get down to business.

This is sort of a pop record, I guess, but certainly an unconventional one. First off, the singer is a baritone, something of an anomaly. Second, there are only strings to back him up. All acoustic strings, mind you, no electric guitar, no drums, no synthesizer, thankfully no vocoder. The album manages to be hazy and dreamy, sometimes a little too pretty but usually interesting. It doesn't exactly move me, though, and doesn't rock at all. It is upbeat, and I'd have to say I prefer it to anything I've heard by The National at this point, a group I would consider something of a peer to MF due to the vocals alone. I manages to be a number of things, but it doesn't stray far enough from its roots to really be revolutionary; it seems to be an album more interesting in concept than execution. Still, it's not a bad listen, just not anything I would see myself spending hard-earned money on, not when there are albums out there by Low and Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky and so on.

In other news:
I don't have to be anywhere or do anything this weekend, just make a pan of brownies sometime between now and Monday. Should be fun.