In today's lead article on The Magnetic Fields on Drowned in Sound, Stephin Merritt speaks with writer Samuel Strang in an in-depth interview that covers everything from the inspiration behind the lyrics on the group's new record, Distortion, to the lasting impact of its seminal 69 Love Songs.

One of the contributors on that famous earlier album, Shirley Simms, returns to sing vocals on a number of tracks on the new one, swapping lead with Stephin. Strang praises the juxtaposition, saying Simms's  "grand melancholic delivery again sits brilliantly beside Merritt’s hollow-hearted baritone bawl."

At the heart of Distortion, even with the new sound of its titular effects in play, Strang finds the sort of music and lyrics for which Merritt and The Magnetic Fields are known:

[T]hrough the feedback the same unabashed pop sensibility and Merritt’s affections for the glorious pop melodrama of Phil Spector and ABBA, for not striving for realism but being content in their own cocooned idylls, remains, with the songwriter seemingly having found his own current comfort zone.

Given that, Strang says the new album proves why Merritt, "so removed from the usual brouhaha, remains a brilliantly unlikely pop deity."

To read the complete interview and article, visit drownedinsound.com.