I love the music of Stephin Merrit. He’s mostly known for his work in THE MAGNETIC FIELDS, which has been one of my favorite bands since I moved to LA five years ago.
I first heard of them when The Arcade Fire performed “Born On A Train” on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. Win Butler said that after hearing the song on the radio, he requested it all the time and had to know who it was. I went out and bought the album it appears on, “The Charm of the Highway Strip” the next day.
Here’s the Original:
Below, Stephin is pictured wearing a suit made of baby dolls. He wrote the music to the off Broadway production of Coraline, so I think the doll suit represents something interesting and deep that helped his creative process. I like to think he composed the whole thing while wearing it:
Now go and acquire all their music.