Love at the Bottom of the SeaThe Magnetic Fields · 2012

rollingstone

7.0

“Revisiting his favorite subject with his main band, Stephin Merritt delivers 15 synth-pop exercises, all 2:39 or under, savoring love in all its twisted flavors. A straight dude falls for another man in sugary harmony ("Andrew in Drag"), a religious babe cock-blocks her own boyfriend over electro-sputters ("God Wants Us to Wait"), and jealousy blooms […]”

pitchfork

6.1

“The record that marks the end of Magnetic Fields' self-imposed "no synth trilogy" is also the first Magnetic Fields album in a more than a decade that isn't organized around a formal limitation.”

fantano

5.0

“The latest Magnetic Fields album sees the band returning to form a bit with the incorporation of synthesizers, but it just doesn't feel like the old days, to me.”