The Magnetic Fields have unveiled the video for "'81 How to Play the Synthesizer," a song on the forthcoming album 50 Song Memoir. The song, which may be downloaded now with pre-orders of the album, is one of fifty on the five-disc set that chronicles the fifty years of songwriter Stephin Merritt's life with one song per year. The video was directed by John Erickson, Alex Basco Koch, and José Zayas and produced by Ghost Corporeal. It was originally created for the Magnetic Fields' 50 Song Memoir concert tour directed by Zayas. Watch it here.

The Magnetic Fields have unveiled the video for "'83 Foxx and I," a song on the forthcoming album 50 Song Memoir. The song, which may be downloaded now with pre-orders of the album, is one of fifty on the five-disc set that chronicles the fifty years of songwriter Stephin Merritt's life with one song per year. The video was directed by Alex Basco Koch and produced by José Zayas for Ghost Corporeal. It was originally created for the Magnetic Fields' 50 Song Memoir concert tour directed by Zayas. Watch it here.

The Magnetic Fields' 50 Song Memoir, which chronicles the fifty years of songwriter Stephin Merritt's life with one song per year, is due March 10 on Nonesuch. Merritt spoke with writer Michael Hill about the project, from its conception over lunch (with Nonesuch's Bob Hurwitz) through the songwriting (nonfiction material making its first appearance in his work) to its recording (he sings vocals on all fifty songs and plays more than one hundred instruments).

The Magnetic Fields' 50 Song Memoir, chronicling the 50 years of songwriter Stephin Merritt's life with one song per year, is due March 10, 2017, on Nonesuch. Merritt sings vocals on all 50 songs and plays more than 100 instruments, from ukulele to piano to drum machine to abacus. Unlike his previous work, the lyrics are nonfiction—a mix of autobiography (bedbugs, Buddhism, buggery) and documentary (hippies, Hollywood, hyperacusis). Available in five-LP and five-CD editions including an extensive interview by Daniel Handler and facsimile handwritten lyrics by Merritt, and as a standalone bound book with a full-album download card. Pre-order to download one song from each decade now. For a limited time, Nonesuch Store pre-orders also come with an exclusive autographed print.

The Magnetic Fields announce their 2016–2017 US tour schedule. They will be performing across the country in support of their forthcoming multi-disc album, 50 Song Memoir, due spring 2017 on Nonesuch. The concerts will premiere at Mass MoCA in November 2016, then head to Brooklyn Academy of Music in December, followed by stops in Philadelphia, DC, Durham, Knoxville, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle in the spring of 2017 (Boston performances are still to be announced).

The initial music line-up for the 2017 Big Ears Festival has been announced, and among the artists are Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, performing the forthcoming Nonesuch Records album 50 Song Memoir, and Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajasthan Express, performing music of their 2015 Nonesuch album, Junun. The Big Ears Festival will return to Knoxville, Tennessee, expanding to four days, March 23–26, 2017. Among the other performers are Wilco, Glenn Kotche, Punch Brothers' Chris Eldridge, and composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski. Weekend passes are on sale now.

Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields will lead a two-week residency at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, that culminates in the world premiere of a staged performance of the forthcoming Nonesuch Records album 50 Song Memoir, an album celebrating Merritt's first half-century on the planet, November 18 and 19. Following the premiere, the Magnetic Fields perform at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in December, Royce Hall in LA in April, and Moore Theatre in Seattle in May.

Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields are currently working on a new album, 50 Song Memoir, for future release on Nonesuch Records. The band will perform music from the album live starting at the end of 2016 and throughout 2017. Three shows have been announced thus far: Brooklyn Academy of Music on December 2 and 3, 2016; Royce Hall in LA on April 27 and 28, 2017; and Moore Theatre in Seattle on May 6 and 7.

The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA (CAP UCLA) has announced its 2016–17 season, and featured among the artists performing this season are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Pat Metheny, Kronos Quartet, and The Magnetic Fields. The season also includes a dance performance set to music by Laurie Anderson and more.

Strange Powers, the documentary that offers an intimate portrait of Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, is now available on DVD. Special features include previously unreleased deleted scenes of the band in the studio, on tour, and backstage; official music videos; the official film trailer; and a commentary track with Merritt and band member Claudia Gonson. The New York Daily News gives the film four stars, calling Merritt "one of the greatest American songwriters to emerge in the last two decades."

The new documentary feature Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, receives its North American theatrical release at the Film Forum in New York City tonight; the band and the filmmakers will attend. A new Magnetic Fields exhibition opens at Other Music in Manhattan as well. In the coming months, the film will open theaters in Toronto and in cities across the US, including Los Angeles, Austin, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Dallas, and Seattle.

Stephin Merritt won an Obie Award for his music and lyrics to the Off-Broadway musical Coraline, at the 55th Annual Village Voice Obie Awards Ceremony, held last night in New York City and hosted by Michael Cerveris and Anika Noni Rose. David Greenspan, who wrote the book and starred in the production, received the Sustained Achievement Award.