''Love at the Bottom of the Sea'' is the tenth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was released in the U.K. on March 5, 2012 by record label Domino and in the U.S. on March 6, 2012 by Merge. Two singles, "

Andrew in Drag "Andrew in Drag" is a song by American indie pop 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 Step ...

" and "Quick!", were released from the album.

Recording

The album was recorded by Stephin Merritt and Charles Newman at Bell Tree in Los Angeles;

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 ...

, Serious Business Records and Dubway Studios in New York; and Tiny Telephone in San Francisco. It is the band's first release with Merge since 1999's '' 69 Love Songs''. After releasing three albums relatively free of synthesizers as part of a "no-synth trilogy" (2004's '' i'', 2008's '' Distortion'', and 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 ...

''), ''Love at the Bottom of the Sea'' features the blend of acoustic and synthesized instruments that the band was known for in the 1990s. Stephin Merritt claims he took a fresh approach with the instrumentation, stating "Most of the synthesizers on the record didn't exist when we were last using synthesizers." All of the tracks on the album are between two minutes and three minutes long, with the closing track being the longest at two minutes and thirty-eight seconds.

Release

''Love at the Bottom of the Sea'' was released in the U.K. on March 5, 2012 by record label Domino and in the U.S. on March 6, 2012 by Merge.

Reception

The reception from critics has been generally favorable, with the average critical score being a 68 out of 100 according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Track listing

Personnel

; The Magnetic Fields * Stephin Merritt – lead vocals on tracks 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 and 15,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, synthesizers, guitar *

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 ...

– backing vocals, piano, percussion, tambourine *

Sam Davol Samuel Bradford Davol is a musician best known for his work with the indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. He is featured several times in videos for The Magnetic Fields, and in the opening for "Born on a Train", his cello is featured at the beginni ...

– cello, flute * John Woo – guitar,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

* Shirley Simms – lead vocals on tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 14,

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

; Additional personnel * Pinky Weitzman – violin, viola,

Stroh violin The Stroh violin or Stroviol is a type of stringed musical instrument that is mechanically amplified by a metal resonator and horn attached to its body. The name Stroviol refers to a violin, but other instruments have been modified with the a ...

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...

* Daniel Handler – accordion,

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

* Johnny Blood – tuba,

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

, alto horn * Randy Walker – vocals

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2012 albums Merge Records albums The Magnetic Fields albums Domino Recording Company albums