Get Lost

The Magnetic Fields: Stephin Merritt.
Additional personnel: Natalie Lithwick (spoken vocals); John Woo (guitar, banjo); Sam Davol (cello, flute); Julie Cooper (bass); Claudia Gonson (drums, vocals, ukulele).
After four full albums and a handful of EPs and singles recorded mostly (if not entirely) by himself, Stephin Merritt introduces a full band on GET LOST. He surrounds his own keyboards and guitar with real drums and percussion, cello, viola, banjo, bass, and ukulele. The results are spectacular. The exquisite arrangements breath new life into Merritt's usual themes of failed romance and world-weary bitterness
"When You're Old and Lonely" sounds thematically of a piece with "The Desperate Things You Made Me Do." But where earlier Magnetic Fields albums would have married both to similar arrangements, GET LOST outfits one with a tasteful, minimal backing and the other with a hypnotic dancefloor vibe. After the release of GET LOST, Merritt (temporarily) turned his attention to a variety of side projects. But the album is one of the crowning achievements of Stephin Merritt's long and varied career.