For someone like Stephin Merritt, who suffers from such an acute sensitivity to loud sounds that he requests that people snap instead of clap during shows, making a buzzing and squealing album called "Distortion" seems a curious choice.
But Merritt, the mastermind behind the Magnetic Fields, has never been interested in other people's expectations. For nearly 20 years he has applied his astringent wit and preternatural gift for memorable tunes to a variety of musical genres, in a number of different bands, with a series of self-imposed concepts.
The grinding squall of "Distortion" follows 2004's "i" (in which every song title began with that letter) and 1999's self-explanatory three-disc set, "69 Love Songs." Merritt has said that the 1985 Jesus and Mary Chain album "Psychocandy" inspired the relentless ethos of "Distortion."
In an interview prior to the start of the Magnetic Fields' new tour, which makes a sold-out stop at the Somerville Theatre next Thursday and Friday, we chatted with Merritt, who is famously given to long, thoughtful pauses.
Q: It's intriguing: The more I listen to the album, the less I hear the distortion and the more clearly the melodies come through. That's not an offensive observation, is it?
A: No. We listen to it now and it seems so incredibly tame we can't believe that initial reactions were shock.
Q: Were people truly shocked? That seems strong.
A: My mother.
Q: What did your mother say?
A: "No one is going to want to listen to this."
Q: But that hasn't been the general response, right?
A: Well, my mother isn't 20; she's not reflective of the average record buyer.
Q: Did you conceive these songs with this sound in mind, or did the concept come after?
A: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I deliberately imposed the style on songs that had been chosen for a completely different idea.
Q: And what was that idea?
A: I won't say.
Q: But it was all of these songs?
A: Mmm-hmm.
Q: Knowing that, I'm surprised people haven't come up to you to pester you about what the original idea for the songs was.
A: No, they don't really bother me all the time about it. I think most people don't care what the original idea was.
Q: Wow, that seems a little depressing.
A: Hmm. I'm trying to think of something where I care what the original idea was. Oh, that didn't take long. Yeah, "The Partridge Family." The original idea of "The Partridge Family" TV show was that it would star the Cowsills. Yeah, so in that case I care what the original idea was.
Q: "Distortion" doesn't just apply to the sound of the record, but it also recurs as something of a theme in the songs themselves as one character distorts himself with alcohol, a nun lays out what many would see as distorted fantasies about becoming a dominatrix, the women in "California Girls" distort their appearance. Was that purposeful?
A: Um. Hmm. Far be it from me to tell you whether that was the artists' intention.
Q: The "Psychocandy" comparison has come up a lot. Is it necessary to have been a Jesus and Mary Chain fan to enjoy "Distortion"?
A: No, but I think it's necessary to be a potential fan. My mother is not a potential fan of "Psychocandy," it seems clear now in retrospect.
Q: Have you heard any feedback from members of the Jesus and Mary Chain since the release of "Distortion"?
A: Have I heard from them? No. I don't think I've actually sent them anything. I would imagine from their perspective this happens all the time, someone comes up with a shrieky record and says, "Ah, ha, ha! I'm the Jesus and Mary Chain. Ha, look at me!" and sends it to the Jesus and Mary Chain. Maybe I'm just imagining that, but people do that to me all the time, so I'm sure they do it to the Jesus and Mary Chain.
Q: Does making an album filled with distortion present some problems in terms of touring?
A: In terms of touring? Yes. Oh, it certainly would if we were trying to replicate the sound of the album.
Q: So these will not be faithful renditions when you come to the local concert hall?
A: It's more like an unplugged show.
Q: And in terms of recording, the concept wasn't problematic with regard to your hearing issues?
A: The only time that it might have been was when I was recording my own rhythm guitar, which took all of an afternoon, I think. I had an earplug in my ear, and I didn't have to hear anything particularly well to do the guitar distortion (laughs). So yeah, it wasn't really an issue.
Q: Are you still asking people to snap instead of clap at shows? Has that caught on?
A: No, people seem to find that demoralizing. We'll see how that goes on this upcoming tour. I don't know that I will survive this tour. But if things get bad, I may have to revert to that.
Q: Demoralizing?
A: People are used to hearing this loud white noise between songs, and when they hear only a little noise between songs, it sounds exactly like a tepid response, which makes them experience the show as though it were getting a tepid response. So it's not just the audience that's demoralized. I didn't have a problem with it, but the other band members found it horrifying. It was really fun when we asked them to boo.
