From the editor: w/c 29th August

Interviewing those we hold dear

I was a little nervous about the interview on page four. The Magnetic Fields are my third-most listened to band of the last ten years (according to last.fm): they have a fantastic back catalogue and their best album, 69 Love Songs, is an inimitable work filled with memorable melodies.

I’ve interviewed plenty of people before but this was a phone call that I was particularly personally invested in. If it didn’t go well, would I still enjoy The Magnetic Fields’ music in the same way? Thankfully, happily, the conversation was friendly, and Stephin Merritt was as insightful, considered, and intelligent as you would expect from his music.

Stephin was perfectly polite and welcoming too, and certainly didn’t seem the dour or difficult personality that some have suggested over the years. The focus on personality and clickbait in music journalism can be vacuous and irritating anyway: it doesn’t matter what Ryan Adams and Father John Misty think of each other, for example. But I mention it here because it raises interesting questions about the form of the interview itself.

If you read the full interview online then you might think that Merritt is being disagreeable when we discuss touring vs residencies for example, but if you listened to the conversation you would hear a perfectly amiable exchange and an interesting discussion. Interviewees aren’t obliged to settle into the interviewer’s mold, or their preferred style of communication. I can only assume that previous interviewers might have objected to some polite objections, or misunderstood Stephin in some way.

This is all irrelevant noise of course. Read the interview to pique your interest (hopefully), listen to the records, and go to the shows.

Joe Fuller
editorial@thelatest.co.uk