Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt opens up about his songwriting

NEW YORK -- Stephin Merritt usually has a song cycling through his head.\nMakes sense, given that he's one of the more captivating and eclectic singer-songwriters around, heading such bands as The Magnetic Fields and The 6ths and creating music for movies, Chinese opera adaptations and the Lemony Snicket audio books. But Merritt's inner soundtrack doesn't always live up to his creative output. During an interview with The Associated Press, for example, it was Peter, Paul and Mary's "Lemon Tree."\n"So, you could see why I'd want to have other music playing while I write," Merritt offered, explaining his creative process with a sad little smile. "I certainly don't want to write a song like "Lemon Tree" and then have to sing it. What if it's really good and I have to sing it for decades? What if it's a hit, and I have to sing it every day for decades?"\nSuch are the perils of popular music. Others include too much time in airports and unsolicited demos from "pathetic but cute" teenagers. Having just toured Europe and North America following the spring release of the Fields' latest album, "i," Merritt has had to confront plenty of both.\nThe album marks the band's first on Nonesuch, home to such pop luminaries as Joni Mitchell, Brian Wilson and Wilco. After more than a decade with Merge Records, the quartet (with Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson and John Woo on a variety of hand-played string instruments) has signed a two-album deal with Warner Bros. Records.\n"I think of Stephin as one of the great songwriters of his era," said David Bither, senior vice president at Nonesuch. "They have that singular voice we're always looking for. It was an easy marriage."\nThe synthesizer-free "i" is the follow up to 1999's "69 Love Songs," a three-disc set that greatly expanded the band's non-mainstream fan base and earned near-universal adoration from critics for its variety-style blend of genres and for Merritt's ingenious lyrics. A sample from "I Don't Want to Get Over You," on the first album: "I could dress in black and read Camus / smoke clove cigarettes and drink vermouth / like I was 17 / that would be a scream / but I don't want to get over you."\nMerritt enjoys concepts and parodies, and "i" combines both. All 14 songs begin with the letter "i," a silly concept that gave Merritt writing parameters and allowed him to poke fun at the ludicrous task he set himself in writing 69 songs about love.\nThe reviews were favorable, but did not match the reception given to "69 Love Songs."\n"I was aware that every review was going to begin, 'It's no "69 Love Songs," but...'" Merritt said. "I was expecting a bigger backlash, I didn't realize that the backlash was going to be against me, rather than the music"