Distant Plastic Trees

1991 studio album by the Magnetic Fields

Distant Plastic Trees

Studio album by

the Magnetic Fields

Released| 1991
Genre| Indie pop
Length| 36:18
Label| PoPuP, Victor, Red Flame
Producer| Stephin Merritt
the Magnetic Fields chronology
|  | Distant Plastic Trees
(1991)  | The Wayward Bus
(1992)

|
|

Distant Plastic Trees is the debut studio album by American indie pop band the Magnetic Fields, released in 1991.[1] Lead vocals on the album are performed by Susan Anway.[2]

The album is noteworthy for its stripped down sound and largely synthesized instrumentation. Stephin Merritt himself described the album as a "small record, intentionally small" and heavily inspired by Young Marble Giants.[3]

The song "Babies Falling" is a cover of a song by The Wild Stares.

## Release

[edit]

Distant Plastic Trees was originally released in Japan and the United Kingdom on the RCA Victor and Red Flame labels, respectively. The album was released in the United States on the band's own imprint, PoPuP.

Merge Records reissued the album in 1994 as a double album compilation with the band's second album, The Wayward Bus.[4] The song "Plant White Roses" was omitted from the Merge reissue.

## Reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [5]
Christgau's Consumer Guide| [6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music| [7]
Spin Alternative Record Guide| 7/10[8]

(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide wrote that the first two albums "showcase sexually ambiguous lyrics, loopy arrangements, and the disaffected voice of Susan Anway... But they also suffer from an air of inconsequentiality."[9] Trouser Press wrote that "the baroque pop structures of songs like 'Smoke Signals' are redolent of the classics Merritt clearly holds dear, but his impressionistic wordplay — which often alights on bracing, upsetting images — seldom settles into simple cliché."[10]

## Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Stephin Merritt, except where noted

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Railroad Boy"|  | 2:59
2.| "Smoke Signals"|  | 3:28
3.| "You Love to Fail"|  | 2:30
4.| "Kings"|  | 2:15
5.| "Babies Falling"|

* Steve Gregoropoulos
* Fran Miller
* Justin Burrill

| 3:18
6.| "Living in an Abandoned Firehouse with You"|

* Merritt
* John Gage
* Genève Gil

| 3:58
7.| "Tar-Heel Boy"|  | 2:26
8.| "Falling in Love with the Wolfboy"|  | 4:05
9.| "Josephine"|  | 3:08
10.| "100,000 Fireflies"|  | 3:20
11.| "Plant White Roses"|  | 4:52

## Personnel

[edit]

* Stephin Merritt – songwriting, instrumentation and production

Additional personnel

* Susan Anway – lead vocals
* Ken Michaels – engineering
* Wendy Smith – album cover
* Art Daly – insert photo

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Magnetic Fields | Biography & History". AllMusic.
2. ^ Buckley, Peter (November 13, 2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 9781843531050 - via Google Books.
3. ^ "Stephin Merritt". The A.V. Club. 4 June 1997.
4. ^ "The Magnetic Fields: The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees (Reissue)". PopMatters. December 21, 2016.
5. ^ Orens, Geoff. "Distant Plastic Trees – Magnetic Fields". AllMusic. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
6. ^ Christgau, Robert (2000). "Magnetic Fields: Distant Plastic Trees". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
7. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 5\. MUZE. p. 436.
8. ^ Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
9. ^ (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 510.
10. ^ "Magnetic Fields". Trouser Press. Retrieved 13 November 2020.

* v
* t
* e

The Magnetic Fields

* Stephin Merritt
* Claudia Gonson
* Sam Davol
* John Woo
* Shirley Simms

Studio albums|

* Distant Plastic Trees (1991)
* The Wayward Bus (1992)
* The Charm of the Highway Strip (1994)
* Holiday (1994)
* Get Lost (1995)
* 69 Love Songs (1999)
* i (2004)
* Distortion (2008)
* Realism (2010)
* Love at the Bottom of the Sea (2012)
* 50 Song Memoir (2017)
* Quickies (2020)

EPs|

* The House of Tomorrow (1992)

Songs|

* "100,000 Fireflies"
* "The Book of Love"
* "Andrew in Drag"

Related|

* Discography

* v
* t
* e

Stephin Merritt

The Magnetic Fields|

* Distant Plastic Trees
* The Wayward Bus
* The House of Tomorrow
* The Charm of the Highway Strip
* Holiday
* Get Lost
* 69 Love Songs
* i
* Distortion
* Realism
* Love at the Bottom of the Sea
* 50 Song Memoir
* Quickies

The Gothic Archies|

* Looming in the Gloom
* The New Despair
* The Tragic Treasury

The 6ths|

* Wasps' Nests
* Hyacinths and Thistles

Future Bible Heroes|

* Memories of Love
* Eternal Youth
* Partygoing

Soundtracks|

* Eban and Charley
* Pieces of April
* Showtunes

Related articles|

* Discography
* Obscurities

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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