New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Stephin Merritt will lead a four-concert residency at Symphony Space in New York City this fall, titled From 69 to 50: A Stephin Merritt / Magnetic Fields Residency, showcasing three of his bands: The Magnetic Fields will perform two Saturday night shows at
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, November 16 and December 7;
Future Bible Heroes will perform at the intimate Leonard Nimoy
Thalia Theatre on Thursday, November 21; and The Gothic Archies at the
Thalia on Thursday, December 12.
The original members of The Magnetic Fields - Stephin Merritt, Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, John Woo, and Shirley Simms - are joined by members of the band that brought the 50 Song Memoir five-disc box set to life, and special guests, for two evenings of Magnetic Fields music from the last three decades, as well as the premiere of new material, with different songs played at each concert, November 16 and December 7. 50 Song Memoir, released on Nonesuch in 2017, chronicles the 50 years of Merritt's life with one song per year. Unlike his previous work, the lyrics are nonfiction, a mix of autobiography and documentary. It's "quite an achievement," says NPR. The Wall Street Journal calls it "a highly entertaining summary of pop culture of the past half-century ... 50 Song Memoir is a treat."
Future Bible Heroes—Merritt, Gonson, and Chris Ewen—perform electro-pop songs about aliens, B-movies, oversexed vampires, and more, on November 21. The band has its roots in the
Boston club music scene where Merritt and Ewen met in their 20s, forming a bond through their mutual love of chanteuse Yma Sumac, composer John Cage, and the collecting of exotic instruments and Tiki art. After many years of friendship and musical rapport, the two, joined by Gonson, have released three albums and three EPs.
The Gothic Archies - Merritt and novelist/musician
Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) - resent a goth-bubblegum night of music, filled with upbeat music drenched in despair, just ahead of the holiday season, on December 12. The duo's sophomore album, The Tragic Treasury:
Music for A Series of Unfortunate Events, was released on Nonesuch in 2006. The Tragic Treasury is a compilation of songs originally written for the audiobooks of each of the thirteen volumes of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events books. These songs are compiled album along with a fourteenth theme song, "We Are the Gothic Archies."
Pre-sale tickets for Symphony Space members are available now; tickets go on sale to the general public this Wednesday, July 24, at symphonyspace.org.
