The Magnetic Fields' latest release, Realism, is due out on Nonesuch next week. The BBC's Andrew Mueller says the new album confirms Stephin Merritt's "stature as the most inventive rhymer in the American lineage since Tom Lehrer." And while his "characteristically crisp lyrical sketches" may have been given the Jesus & Mary Chain treatment on the band's previous release, Distortion, this time around, the sound is "absolutely prime Merritt" from the start, on the album opener's "ambitious and instantly beguiling melody," and throughout, "consistently confirming what unusually inventive arrangers Merritt and his cohorts are."

Mueller sees Realism as "most closely related to 1999's mordant epic 69 Love Songs" of all the band's albums, and says that on the forthcoming release, "Merritt's songs are, as ever, as lugubrious yet playful as his voice."

Read the complete review at bbc.co.uk.

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Also in the UK, MusicOMH‬‪ gives the album four stars. Reviewer Tony Heywood begins by recognizing that "Merritt has continually produced material of the highest quality," as he does again here. "His talent for bathing his songs in wonderful arrangements and limpet-like melodies seals his genius status," with a virtually unbeatable "strike rate for literary arc pop gold."

The reviewer goes on to recommend the album and Merritt's work as appealing enough even for those unconvinced of the entire genre's merit. "Merritt's love of the three minute song and his wry turn of phrase should be prescribed to anyone still agnostic about pop," Heywood writes. "Realism showcases how effective it can be when it is allied to a dry sense of humour, a flair for melody and an ability to engage with more than a narcissistic world view."

Read the review at musicomh.com.

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In other Magnetic Fields news, Peter Gabriel's Scratch My Back project, in which Gabriel covers the songs of David Bowie, Paul Simon, Elbow, Bon Iver, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Arcade Fire, Randy Newman, Regina Spektor, Neil Young, Radiohead, and, yes, The Magnetic Fields, and has each of those artists cover one of his tunes, launches this month.

In fact, the whole project begins with the January 30 release of Gabriel's take on "The Book of Love," off of the aforementioned Magnetic Fields classic, 69 Love Songs, and Merritt's version of Gabriel's "Not One of Us." The songs will be available for download on iTunes through the month of February, when they'll be replaced by the next set of songs. For more information, including a podcast in which Gabriel explains how it all works, visit petergabriel.com.