Magnetic Fields Model 'Realism' After Judy Collins

Magnetic Fields singer and songwriter Stephin Merritt is indignant when it's suggested that his band's new album, 'Realism,' follows reasonably quickly on the heels of its 2008 predecessor, 'Distortion.' "It's been two years!" Merritt tells Spinner. "I'm used to putting out a record a year, so I don't feel like it's been a short amount of time."

Fair enough, though two years is a flash compared to the four-year gap between 'Distortion' and 2004's 'i,' or the five-year interval between 'I' and 1999's '69 Love Songs.' To his credit, Merritt has been busy with other projects, including the music and lyrics for the 2009 off-Broadway musical 'Coraline.' He's also writing a score for the 1917 silent-film adaptation of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,' which he'll perform at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco in May 2010. Somewhere in there, he also found time to write 13 songs for "Realism," which he calls his "folk record."

"It's modeled on Judy Collins' 'In My Life' and 'Wildflowers,'" he says. "It's folk as much as those two Judy Collins records are, where she was branching out into classical music and theater music and looking for new sources for her folk-based approach. Some of the material on those records is not what you would call folk if you took it out of context."

The songs on "Realism" are packed full of banjo, bouzouki, piano, acoustic guitar, various horns and strings -- an acoustic counterpoint to the overdriven instruments that gave 'Distortion' its title. Although the album isn't due until Jan. 26, Merritt already has an idea how the follow-up will sound.

"Now that we've reached the end of the no-synths trilogy, it's easy to guess where the next Magnetic Fields album will go," Merritt says.