For this month's edition of Music & Film, we chose to stick with documentaries, this time focusing on Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields. The Magnetic Fields formed in the Boston/Cambridge area in the mid 1980s by primary song writer and singer Stephin Merritt and singer/pianist/composer Claudia Gonson with cellist Sam Doval and guitar/banjo John Woo later joining. The indie band itself is hard to categorize as elements of folk, synth pop, tin pan alley, baroque, chamber pop, country, and countless other styles can be found all over their nine albums. Merritt himself says in his trademark dead pan delivery that the only genres he has not covered are hip hop and death metal. The band is best known for their 1999 release, the ambitious 3-disc collection 69 Love Songs.
Directed by Gail O'Hara and Kerthy Fix, Strange Powers spans roughly the band's near twenty year career from their first live performances to the recording of their 2008 release Distortion. Viewers get a first hand look at Merritt's songwriting process, which according to the front man, normally takes place in gay bars while dance music is blasting, and the band's recording sessions. Located in Merritt's New York apartment, their studio is full of odd instruments, including dozens of ukuleles(even one made out of a cigar box), whisks, frog callers, and a wind chime made of plastic cups. Most of Doval's cello contributions on each record are recorded in the studio's bathroom. We also learn of how highly regarded of a songwriter Merritt is in the arts world as people like Sarah Silverman, Peter Gabriel(whose surprisingly good cover of "Book of Love" is featured in one of my favorite series finales ever), and authors Neil Gaiman and Daniel Handler all talk of the complexity of Merritt's lyrics and personality. Handler offers an interesting take on Merritt's songwriting. Unlike many songwriters whose lyrics are very autobiographical, Merritt pulls back even further to reveal little to nothing about himself. We later learn that frequently when writing songs, Merritt likes to imagine himself as a different person and write from their point of view.
The heart of the film focuses on the relationship between Merritt and Gonson. Gonson has known Merritt since high school when the two bonded over their love of David Bowie, and remains his best (only?) friend, in addition to acting as the band's manager. Throughout most of the film, we see the pair bickering back and forth like two siblings during recording sessions and even live performances. Merritt never comes off as the easiest person to be close to (Doval admits he is not even friends with Merritt) or interview (see his interview in the film talking about his work on the Lemoney Snicket audio books), but Gonson seems to be able to break through his dour shell. You wonder if not for the musical bond they share, would the two continue even be friends. One of the lines in the 69 Love Songs track "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" goes "I've enjoyed making you miserable for years". While the song depicts a couple involved in domestic violence, you get the impression that the line is a bit of an inside joke the between the musical partners as we see them perform the song live.
Unlike our previous Music & Film post about Wilco's I'm Trying to Break Your Heart, Strange Powers is a pretty uneventful, but nonetheless interesting film. Save for Merritt, the Magnetic Fields are made up of normal people who just happen to be in a band, none who live a particularly glamorous life. The film does capture a bit of controversy that fell upon Merritt. In 1999, Merritt submitted his 100 favorite songs of the 20 century, one per year, for Time Out Magazine, which Merritt worked for as a proof reader and write for in the early to mid 90s. The list was called out by journalist Sasha Frere Jones of the New Yorker for not having enough black musicians on the list, calling Merritt a "rockist cracker" for not liking hip hop and rap. Gaylord Fields of WFMU, the longest free form radio station in the country, was quoted in the film as saying "The idea of what is in your iPod is whats in your heart is disgusting", after the singer would later go on to speak at a musical summit about the shame of pop music. Accusations of Merritt being racist would again surface as the talks somehow turned to the film Song of the South, and specifically the song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah". After being greatly misquoted of supporting the perceived racist film, Merritt would go on to be further defended.
Near the beginning of the film, the filmmakers remind the audience of the band's place in society: "To some, they are iconic. To most, completely unknown." This film is unlikely to change that sentiment. Despite crafting simple pop songs, the band is anything, but accessible. Stephin Merritt, while not the most accessible person in his own right, is candid in the film about not knowing what his next step in not just music, but life was, something you don't normally here from a musician. Late in the film, he decides to move from NYC to Los Angeles. He hints at his next step in life, possibly writing musicals, but he is just as confused at what his future holds as the next person. A refreshing confessional from any musician, but for someone as socially closed off as Merritt can at times be, he finally comes off as someone you can relate to.
~mm
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