(music notes) the magnetic fields - 69 love songs

the fact is that the entire premise of the album is itself one tongue in cheek joke (“69” anybody?) . three cds, each with 23 songs ostensibly about ‘love’ in all shapes and sizes. and in all shapes and sizes also come the genres that the tight little songs seem to reference – from pop to punk to experimental rock. besides this, are the sexuality blurring lyrics and the drawl of the disinterested singer- like he or she has sung the song a million times before – in a bar somewhere.

it is all very clever and self conscious and yet is able to walk the fine line in between campy goofiness and genuine art. and the art does not seem to lie in the greatness of the love songs in the way that they express ‘real’ emotions but rather in the act of pretending. where the pose is the real art object. as in good pop.

strangely that also seems to transform the pop songs into great folk music- music that has been sung so many times by so many people that it has become part of a cultural phenomenon; where a common emotion is expressed in songs that have been heard so many times, sung by so many different people. the fact that none of the songs are particularly difficult to perform or to remember is part of the act.

the songs become representative of archetypes in relationships- obsessive, dismal, broken hearted, joyous. it’s this that keeps them still engaging and the music never sinks into being merely a one line joke.

the romantic notion of a close relationship between the singer and the emotion expressed in the song is completely deconstructed. in fact, it is this distance all through the album, as we are never asked to believe that the songs are genuinely ‘felt’ by the singer while performing, where we insert ourselves – slightly cynical, but misty eyed with the memories of love lives we have known. nostalgia and fond memories seem to complete the songs for us- making them our own.