Magnetic Fields songsmith Stephin Merritt rifles through his mind’s attic in compiling Obscurities. Stephin Merritt is nothing if not precise—in his speech, his painstaking approach to conceptually specific projects (including, most famously, the Magnetic Fields’ self-explanatory 1999 opus 69 Love Songs), and, especially, in his meticulously well-formed songcraft. Uncharacteristically, then, Obscurities, a new compilation issued … Continue reading Stephin Merritt: Dour & Dusty