Stephin Merritt Talks Literature With The LA Review of Books

The Magnetic Fields‘ Stephin Merritt recently had a long conversation with the LA Review of Books, giving engaging answers to questions about his reading habits and favorite books. Interestingly, Merritt begins the interview discussing the influence of physical books themselves on The Magnetic Fields. “As a child I bought a three-book [Richard Brautigan] set,” he says, “and I loved the set physically. I tried to find it online — I couldn’t. And it has served as a lifelong lesson to me about how important it is to have words come in a pretty object … More than half the fun of a record is that it is an object.” Later, he explains how reading Joe Brainard helped him in the creation of his new album, 50 Song Memoir: “[His memoir] I Remember is obviously a huge template for 50 Song Memoir. I don’t think I would have done the album if I hadn’t had the sense that there was no reason to be linear in my memoir. The linearity of most memoirs is completely irrelevant to the material.”

Fans of literature and smart conversation will definitely want to check out the interview here. Fans of music should make sure 50 Song Memoir is getting quality airplay at their stations!