Fingerprints Music

Reviews:

hen Stephin Merritt last left his Future Bible Heroes moniker, he was lonely,and he loved it. But it was absolutely him doing the loving; who else couldpossibly get away with crooning the title track of 2000's five-song EP,I'm Lonely (and I Love It)? Certainly not Claudia Gonson, Merritt'slongtime manager and an occasional vocalist in his ongoing songwriting cavalcade.She's the throat of some of the most affecting moments on the MagneticFields' 69 Love Songs, brassy where Merritt is insouciant, thoughboth share a basic dryness. Gonson sounds like she's the coolest personin whatever room she's in, and like she couldn't care less, whichjust makes her even cooler. Who could believe her as lonely, ever?

Being a vampire, on the other hand, is far closer to her speed. On EternalYouth, Merritt hands over his newest set of songs to Christopher Ewen, whoarranges them for a Ramada Inn Erasure cover band, and Gonson, who belts themlike a teenager in the shower. "Doris Daytheearthstoodstill" and "KissMe Only with Your Eyes" are readymade anthems for adolescent "Harold& Maude" fans of all ages, while "Losing Your Affection"compares its title affliction to putting the make on a rattlesnake. And youcan practically hear Gonson smack her lips on "I'm a Vampire":"I can turn into a bat/ I can cast the evil eye/ I have ever so much money/I'm gorgeous, and I can fly/ I survived the inquisition/ Been a harlot,been a queen/ Survived for 700 years/ And I still look seventeen."