The 6th's |
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Fri. September 15.2000 8:30 AM EDT |
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Stephin Merritt's 6ths Twist Tongues, Expectations'Supergroup' LP finds 14 singers playing with pop conventions. by Contributing Editor Will Comerford |
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Stephin Merritt, pictured, brought guests ranging from folk singer Odetta to Hüsker Dü founder Bob Mould in for the new 6ths LP. (Gail O'Hara) |
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Indie-pop Magnetic Fields songwriter Stephin Merritt, who often avoided singing on his band's early albums, continues to place his words in the mouths of others on the new album
"I like to hear the differences of people's voices — I wish I'd gone even further with that," Merritt said at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival this month. "I get sick of my own voice," added the musician, who leads or shares vocals on most of the songs from last year's acclaimed Magnetic Fields album, 69 Love Songs. Hyacinths and Thistles is the second album from the 6ths, following 1995's Wasps' Nests. Merritt said the tongue-twisting names "make people remember having heard or said them — it physically works." While the group's debut featured a slate of independent rock stars, such as Sebadoh's Lou Barlow and Yo La Tengo's Georgia Hubley, the new album has more of a folk appeal, with such '60s stars as Odetta and Melanie, as well as folky British rockers Momus and the Mekons' Sally Timms. None of the singers from the first album, which included Merritt on one track, appear on the newer album. Momus (born Nick Currie), who sings the ethereal opening track "As You Turn To Go" (RealAudio excerpt) said the changes in lineup reflect Merritt's change as a songwriter. "The first time I went to visit him, he just had a lot of Moogs and old '60s organs, and the next time it was like suddenly all these ethnic instruments had appeared from somewhere," he said. "He'd been buying zithers and cowbells and didgeridoos and all sorts of things." Momus first heard a version of "As You Turn To Go" at a Magnetic Fields concert in 1997, saying it was played with a "straightforward arrangement." After agreeing to take part in the 6ths project, Momus was mailed a similarly arranged version of the song to sing with at his London apartment. When he went to New York to re-record the track, it had changed: "It was totally different. It was a very minimal reading of the same song." Merritt produced and arranged the music, which is often sparse and delicate. Melanie's vocal performance in "I've Got New York" is accompanied by experimental classical virtuoso Margaret Leng Tan on toy piano, and Odetta's song is accompanied solely by the accordion of novelist Daniel Handler. Choosing, Changing Voices The music was not the only aspect of the project that departed from the original plan. "I wrote the song 'Kissing Things' (RealAudio excerpt) thinking that I would try to get Tom Waits to sing it," Merritt said. "Instead I got [St. Etienne singer] Sarah Cracknell to sing it, who has more or less the exact opposite voice of Tom Waits. She sounds like a choirboy, whereas Tom Waits sounds like he eats choirboys." Merritt said that of the 14 songs, only "Waltzing Me All the Way Home" (RealAudio excerpt), which features the voice of Odetta, and "Volcana!," with Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond, were written specifically for their singers. "I certainly never imagined Gary Numan when writing the 'Sailor in Love With the Sea,' " he said. The song's lyrics ("I fell in love with a sailor/ A sailor in love with the sea/ Cry like Elizabeth Taylor/ Out on the end of a quay") seem an odd match to Numan's robotic, futuristic reputation, though the driving beats of the song — the fastest on the album — and the electro-pop sound pay an homage to the singer's '80s new wave hits, such as "Cars" and "I Die: You Die." Rocker Bob Mould — known for his emotional, wailing vocals with Hüsker Dü and Sugar — is given a surprising assignment, with the soft, piano-accompanied ballad "He Didn't." "I think Bob Mould has a very beautiful voice, and I've never heard him sing quietly," Merritt said. "He did it beautifully — he was shocked." Momus also was surprised when he heard his voice played back to him. "I put the record on and I thought, 'God, this sounds like Stephin singing his own song, just his voice is slightly higher.' [It's] because he bathed my vocal in reverb, which is something I would never ever do. "And also, the song has this very simple, poignant but kind of arch quality," Momus added. "It's a classic Stephin song. It's weird because he loves formula, and he also loves undermining formula. What you get is a subtle subversion as well as a respect for tradition." Finding Audiences Merritt said he tried to keep vocal coaching to a minimum. "I think they should sound like what they know how to sound like, and that'll sell records because people will recognize their voices." Cirelli Jones, music buyer at Berkeley, Calif.'s Amoeba Music, thinks Merritt himself will draw more people to the album than the individual singers. "Magnetic Fields do really well here, and our clientele is pretty knowledgeable, so I think they'll find out this is Stephin Merritt. Plus, it's stickered." Merritt, who also records under the name Future Bible Heroes, does not have new group names, or tongue-twisting album names, in the works. "People keep suggesting them to me," he said, though his favorite remains one that his mother liked: "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sick sheep." |
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