Magnetic Fields w/ Laura Barrett 3/4/2010 Pabst Theater

Laura Barrett: Very interesting melodies. She played some sort of bass instrument with her feat to compliment a kalimba. I didn't know anything about this act (didn't even know there would be an opener) but was impressed with her compositions. She exchanged vocal harmonies with another female voice (forget the instrument) while a banjo player syncopated the melodies. All original compositions--I remember one song about a robot pony--a few others delved into sexual innuendo. Very good performance on the whole.

Magnetic Fields: I tried to bone up on this group before the show by listening to all 69 Love songs. The performance met my expectations. However, I was surprised to see that the lead Stephin Merritt didn't dominate every song. In fact, he played a ukulele and only sang on 1/2 the songs. The 2 female vocalists, Claudia Gonson (keyboard) and another female on (can't remember name of instrument) did most of the singing. Merritt has a wonderful bass voice. It clashed a bit (in volume) with the other 2 singers--but just a unique and original sound. I loved it.

This isn't my cup of tea as far as style. nevertheless this was an unbelievably creative musical performance. They sang songs about vampires and sex and porno starlets. I lost myself in the cello drones. And the (non Claudia) female vocalist held my attention on each song. The magnetic fields kept it interesting for me. I don't know what genre to put this music because it's not rock, it's not pop and it's not folk. It's original however and I really enjoyed it.