As the brains behind perennial cult favourites Magnetic Fields, not to mention several side projects such as Future Bible Heroes and the 6ths, Stephen Merritt has long become a byword for left-field brilliance. This soundtrack to Peter Hedges take on the well-worn “thanksgiving re-union” genre starring Katie Holmes combines a handful of new Fields’ songs with previously released material.
As such it provides slim pickings for fans hungry for something new from the mercurial Merritt. From the Field’s now legendary 69 Love Songs we get three numbers ‘I Think I Need A New Heart’ ‘Epithet For My Heart’ and ‘The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side’ – not the most obvious of selections it has to be said but presumably chosen for their cinematic appeal.
Of the four unreleased songs, the yearning lovelorn ballad, ‘All I Want To Know’ is about the best, its mournful melancholia perfectly in keeping with Merritt’s stock-in-trade. ‘Dreams Anymore’ blends quirky instrumentation with an off-kilter rhythm. ‘Stray With Me’ is Bowie-esque in texture while ‘Heather Heather’ is an OK song spoiled by a repetitive and profoundly irritating white noise intrusion.
His studio side-project the 6ths are represented by a pair of solid numbers, ‘As You Turn To Go’ and the sublime ‘You You You You You’ featuring Katherine Whalen on vocals.
The only track credited to Merritt in his own right is the film’s title cut where he sounds even more like his sometime collaborator Neil Hannon (though the intro strangely had me humming along to Yazoo’s ‘Only You’)
Clocking in at just over 26 minutes in total it’s hardly value for money but completists will want it for the new stuff.