Realism, the new album from The Magnetic Fields, is just days away from its January 26 Nonesuch release, with the vinyl album to follow on February 9. As reported yesterday in the Nonesuch Journal, that album has already been called "absolutely prime Merritt" by the BBC, reconfirming frontman Stephin Merritt's songwriting stature.

Now, in the lead-up to Realism's launch, Nonesuch.com will be posting a new short video piece about the album, featuring a conversation between Stephin Merritt and bandmate Claudia Gonson, along with music from the album, each weekday from now till Tuesday's release. Today, we begin, fittingly enough, with Introductions, in which Stephin and Claudia re-introduce themselves and give a hint as to the album's instrumentation (including the playing of leaves and enough harp to necessitate the taking of lessons) for arrangements the BBC called "inventive" and MusicOMH called "wonderful."

Watch the first video now at nonesuch.com/media and check back in the days to follow for new videos to come.