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Rating:
The years 1994-1995 mark the most prolific period in the career of the Magnetic Fields, and it is during this time that Stephin Merritt is confirmed as the sole mastermind of the project, which had previously seen the presence of various collaborators.
Precisely in 1994, Merritt, with only the presence of Johny Blood (tuba) and Sam Davol (cello), composed the 14 tracks of "Holiday," playing all the instruments (necessary for a pop record worthy of the name). At first listen, Merritt's baritone voice is immediately noticeable, delivering excellently crafted lyrics that balance his peculiar romanticism and a strongly cynical irony. The sounds fluctuate between synth pop and more traditional indie pop, all characterized by a deliberately sought-after lo-fi aesthetic. The album moves along these coordinates in all the tracks, dominated by electronic instrumentation that almost devours the other instruments. Just consider the introductory "BBC Radiophonic Workshop," 20 seconds of loop, which introduces "Desert Island" featuring fuzzy guitars, drum machine, and keyboards.
But it is especially in the shorter tracks that Merritt confirms himself as one of the best pop musicians of the last thirty years: particularly memorable are "Deep Sea Diving Suit," where we find folk elements, and "Swinging London," the best of the album in my opinion. When the album seems to become somewhat monotone, the minimalist baroque-pop of "Sad Little Moon" proves us wrong. The album closes with "Take Ecstasy With Me," splendidly arranged by Merritt. "Holiday" is, as mentioned earlier, the most electronic album in the career of the Magnetic Fields. This very sound will later be abandoned in the "no-synth" trilogy (composed of "I," "Distortion," and "Realism"); however, electronics will never be overlooked by Merritt, who will give life to the side project Future Bible Heroes.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
06 The Flowers She Sent and the Flowers She Said She Sent (02:26)
I saw you standing at the airport
With your chihuahua in your hand
Crying on the moving sidewalk
On your way to Disneyland
And the flowers she sent and the flowers she said she sent
Are all equally dead
You don't care anymore, she said
And the books she read and the books that she said she read
Are all spread on the floor
You don't care about them anymore
I saw you closing your antique shop
With a boa 'round your throat
And you tremble like an ostrich
In your ostrich feather coat
And the flowers she sent and the flowers she said she sent
Are all equally dead
You don't care anymore, she said
And the books she read and the books that she said she read
Are all spread on the floor
You don't care about them anymore
07 Swinging London (02:35)
I read your manifestoes and your strange religious tracts.
You took me to your library and kissed me in the stacks.
Planets crash, the world goes nova,
Sun explodes, all goes black.
You went off swinging London and forgot to come back
You couldn't grok my racecar, but you dug the roadside blur.
You weren't into my airplane, but you loved the whirling world.
Planets crash, the world goes nova,
Sun explodes, all goes black.
You went off swinging London and forgot to come back
Planets crash, the world goes nova,
Sun explodes, all goes black.
You went off swinging London and forgot to come back
13 In My Car (02:56)
You were mean to me and broke my heart
now you've gone away but we're apart
but I've got a special machine to take me where
things turned out differently and you still care
I'm in my car I'm in my car I'm taking a ride to somewhere inside
where you never left and I never cried at the speed of light in my car.
Never comin' back to the world
I know where I belong where I'm your girl
so I've got fuzzy dice to bring me luck
roll me to a better place where we can rock
14 Take Ecstasy With Me (03:36)
You used to slide down the carpeted stairs
or down the bannister
you stuttered like a kaleidoscope
'cause you knew too many words
you used to make ginger bread houses
we used to have taffy pulls
Take ecstasy with me, baby
take ecstasy with me.
You had a black snowmobile
we drove out under the northern lights
a vodka bottle gave you those raccoon eyes
we got beat up just for holding hands
Take ecstasy with me, baby
take ecstasy with me.
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