The Magnetic Fields’ Love at the Bottom of the Sea will be released by Merge Records on March 6. The band’s tenth full-length album is their first release of new material with Merge since 1999’s highly acclaimed 69 Love Songs. The band will celebrate their new album with a North American tour that passes through the SXSW Music Showcase in Austin, Texas.

After putting out three synthesizer-free albums, The Magnetic Fields are returning to the signature mix of synth and acoustic sounds they established in the 90s with Merge releases such as The Charm of the Highway Strip and Get Lost. Stephin Merritt has come back to the synth with a fresh approach: “Most of the synthesizers on the record didn’t exist when we were last using synthesizers,” he notes. The songs — none over three minutes long — were recorded in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York with Merritt’s usual cast of collaborators: Claudia Gonson, Sam Davol, John Woo, Shirley Simms, Johny Blood and Daniel Handler.

There will be a limited-edition eggshell-colored vinyl available exclusively to those who pre-order the album at the Merge Records store. The first 100 people who order the album from Merge will receive a free signed poster and a Magnetic Fields button, as well.

The Magnetic Fields’ debut album Distant Plastic Trees was released in 1991. In 1999, The Magnetic Fields’ three-CD collection, 69 Love Songs, established Stephin Merritt as one of his generation’s most talented songwriters. That breakthrough was followed by three albums on Nonesuch Records: i in 2004, Distortion in 2008 and Realism in 2010. Between Magnetic Fields releases, Merritt has recorded side projects and albums with his various other bands, Future Bible Heroes, the Gothic Archies and the 6ths, as well as soundtracks to the films Eban and Charley and Pieces of April. In 2006, Nonesuch also released a collection of songs Merritt wrote under the name The Gothic Archies to accompany the Lemony Snicket books, The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events. In 2009, Merritt scored the Off-Broadway adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel Coraline.

'Love at the Bottom of the Sea' Track Listing:
1. God Wants Us to Wait
2. Andrew in Drag
3. Your Girlfriend’s Face
4. Born For Love
5. I’d Go Anywhere with Hugh
6. Infatuation (With Your Gyration)
7. The Only Boy in Town
8. The Machine in Your Hand
9. Goin’ Back to the Country
10. I’ve Run Away to Join the Fairies
11. The Horrible Party
12. My Husband’s Pied-a-Terre
13. I Don’t Like Your Tone
14. Quick!
15. All She Cares About Is Mariachi

The Magnetic Fields’ Tour Dates:
March 6 -- Helsinki Hudson, Hudson, NY
March 7 -- Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA
March 14, 15, 16 -- SXSW, Austin, TX
March 18 -- The Vogue, Vancouver, BC
March 19 -- Neptune Theater, Seattle, WA
March 20 -- Neptune Theater, Seattle, WA
March 21 -- Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
March 23 -- Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, CA
March 24 -- Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
March 26 -- Vic Theater, Chicago, IL
March 27 -- Vic Theater, Chicago, IL
March 28 -- Englert Theater, Iowa City, IA
March 30 -- Sound Academy, Toronto, ONT
March 31 -- Le National, Montral, QUE

April 3 -- Beacon Theater, New York, NY
(Tickets are currently on-sale and range from $35 - 40)

April 6 -- Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA
April 7 -- Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA
April 9 -- 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
April 11 -- Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
April 12 -- Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
April 14 -- Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA

Links:
The Magnetic Fields