From the Editor: Tuesday 30th May

The Magnetic Fields are coming to town! The Magnetic Fields! You don’t know them?! I’m fascinated by our relationship with music. I think/hope that a music lover will always be a music lover, although Joe of 10 years ago might be surprised at how few rock gigs 2017 Joe goes to (still a fair few but nothing compared to that indie geek). I’m now just as excited about whether Hofesh Shechter or Benjamin Appl will be returning to Brighton as I am about bands like Deafheaven or Ratatat.

There seems to be a general consensus that we form special associations in our teens and it’s a shame that, to some extent, art can arguably not grab us in quite the same way as we get older. To answer those who might say “hang on Joe you bang on about art all the time, you never shut up, is all that enthusiasm a lie?”, I answer no, I’m not lying. I simply mean that the awe and wonder I had when first hearing acts like Eluvium, Cocteau Twins, Sufjan Stevens, Talk Talk, The Beatles, Arvo Pärt, The Velvet Underground etc. for the first time might be difficult to recapture.

Anyway, apologies for the quasi-philosophical interlude, the important thing is that The Magnetic Fields are coming to Brighton Dome, which is big news for indie music lovers. They’ll be performing new album 50 Song Memoir, which is filled with strong, intricately written, funny songs. Try out 1999’s 69 Love Songs if you want a superior album, but the new stuff’s good too and they’re brilliant live with high quality musicianship meshing with the humour and quiet charisma of Stephin Merritt.

I think there will be a lot of indie fans like me excitedly buying tickets for the chance to see The Magnetic Fields on our doorstep. There’s certainly new stuff out there to enjoy of course, but sometimes nothing beats a bit of teenage nostalgia.

Joe Fuller
editorial@thelatest.co.uk