Hyacinths and Thistles - The 6ths (2000)
Stephin Merritt has recorded a ton of wonderful music as Magnetic Fields. The one you likely know if you don’t know any others is his 69 Love Songs from 1999 (Interesting but maybe only to me: There are excellent versions of Book Of Love from this record by both Peter Gabriel at age 60 and Olivia Rodrigo at age 23)
There are two albums of Merritt music as The 6ths where he lets others take over the vocals on his heartfelt, literate, affecting songs of love and longing.
The choice of collaborators is an interesting who’s who of artists with cult followings similar to Merritt’s: Fellow indie folk troubador Momus, Saint Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell, Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori, Divine Comedy mastermind Neil Hannon, and 80s synth rock icon Gary Numan.
The most distinguished and accomplished contributor is surely the late Odetta, roots music icon and living encyclopedia of American blues and spiritual music.
I don’t think it’s just my love of Bob Mould that makes his, He Didn’t, be my favorite here.
Each cut fits its singer excellently, and there’s a great overall aesthetic to the whole thing.
