Obscurities

Obscurities is a collection of hard-to-find recordings from Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields) dating back to his time on Merge (1994-1999) and prior. The 14 tracks on Obscurities - including five previously unreleased songs – were recorded prior to the release of The Magnetic Fields' seminal album, 69 Love Songs, the collection which established Merritt as one of this generation's most talented songwriters. Three of the unreleased tracks hail from The Song from Venus, the unfinished science fiction musical written by Merritt and Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket. Also included are four songs culled from various 7-inch singles by The Magnetic Fields; two from The 6ths, Merritt's guest vocalist-laden side project; one from an audio book; one from the Oh, Merge compilation; and one track from a rare K Records cassette-only release. Among the tracks on Obscurities is The Song from Venus' 'Forever and a Day,' a solo-acoustic ukulele-based love song. Also included is 'The Sun and the Sea and the Sky,' a previously unreleased 69 Love Songs outtake.