Short Songs & Short Stories

The Magnetic Fields played a much anticipated two-day set of shows at The Vic on Monday and Tuesday. I had the great pleasure of attending last night's show, and was squealing with giddy delight when I discovered that their merch girl was Emma Straub! Emma's collection of short stories Other People We Married was hands-down my favorite book of 2011, so naturally, I had Emma sign my copy while at the show last night. And her husband took a photo of me getting my book signed! It was one of my first fan-girl moments!!

As for the musical stylings of  Magnetic Fields, the instrumentation of the short songs was sweet and beautiful - the cello added a solemnity to every song, but the dark humor and sheer wit of the band kept things light. I'd never heard their songs with such clarity before. A few of my faves were played, especially the sad and poignant "Come Back from San Francisco" and "Smoke and Mirrors". They also played some new material, and I left the show eager to hit Reckless Records to purchase their latest release "Love at the Bottom of the Sea".

All in all - last night was really wonderful, and I'm so glad my sister could accompany me. Oh, and the $20 we found in the cabride home was a lovely added bonus! ;)