''Distortion'' is the eighth studio album by American

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band

The Magnetic Fields The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel ''Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American Band (rock and pop), band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocali ...

. It was released on January 15, 2008 on

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Non ...

Recording

As the album's title implies, several of the musical performances featured are distorted by various means. In particular, the album's sound was influenced by the 1985 album ''

Psychocandy ''Psychocandy'' is the debut studio album by Scottish rock band the Jesus and Mary Chain. It was released in November 1985 on Blanco y Negro Records. The album is considered a landmark recording: its combination of guitar feedback and noise wit ...

'' by

The Jesus and Mary Chain The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid. After signing to independent label Creation Records, they rele ...

. ''Distortion'' was recorded at

Mother West Mother West is a record label based in New York City. It was founded in 1990 by Charles Newman and Paul Casanova as a vehicle to release the first record, ''Noreally Thanks'', for their band Please. Since then and under the helm of Newman, Mother ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was produced by

Stephin Merritt Stephin Raymond Merritt (born February 9, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the songwriter and principal singer of the bands the Magnetic Fields, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. He is ...

and co-produced by Charles Newman. No synthesizers were used to record the album; it is the second in a "no-synth trilogy", succeeding the 2004 album '' i'' and preceding 2010's ''

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

''.

Release

''Distortion'' debuted at number 77 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling about 8,000 copies in its first week.Katie Hasty
"Keys Still Atop Album Chart In Slow Sales Week"
Billboard.com, January 23, 2008.

Reception

''Distortion'' has been well received by critics. It currently holds a 79/100 rating at review aggregator website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Track listing

Personnel

The Magnetic Fields

– vocals, instrumentation,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, mixing *

Claudia Gonson Claudia Miriam Gonson (born April 5, 1968) is an American musician best known for her work with The Magnetic Fields. She often provides the band lead vocals as well as performing the piano or drums. She is also the band's manager. Gonson met S ...

– drums, piano,

Farfisa Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professiona ...

organ, backing vocals, management * Sam Davol – cello *

John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...

– lead guitar *

Shirley Simms Shirley Simms is an American singer and songwriter known for her work as a member of indie pop band the Magnetic Fields. She has been singing on the band's albums since her first appearance on 2008's ''Distortion'', with her and Stephin Merritt al ...

– vocals

Additional personnel

Daniel Handler Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970) is an American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is best known for his children's book series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' and ''All the Wrong Questions ...

– accordion * A. Klasinski, I. Pearle, R. Stevens – "orgiasts"

Technical

* Charles Newman – production, mixing * Tom Rogers – mixing, additional mastering * Robert Stevens –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

assistance *

Jeff Lipton Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

– mastering * Evan Gaffney Design – sleeve design * Marcelo Krasilcic – sleeve photography * Michael English – logo design

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Distortion (The Magnetic Fields album) 2008 albums Nonesuch Records albums The Magnetic Fields albums