Search - Stephin Merritt :: Eban and Charley

Worthwhile but not essential

KRossHoff@aol.com | swarthmore pa | 02/19/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Despite his knack for coming up with some of the best band names on record (besides the flagship MagFields,
there's the Future Bible Heroes, the Gothic Archies, and 6ths), Stephin has decided to resort to his
birth moniker for the first time on his latest release. That's not the only thing that makes this unusual for a Stephin Merritt record. After a simple
thirty-second piano introduction, the first appreciable track, "Cricket Problem," is not properly
a song at all, but a sort of interlude comprised entirely of mechanical whirs and rattles and the sounds of baby toys,
interrupted occasionally with a stumpy drum machine. This is quickly followed by a more typical piece, a downcast folky
tune about postponed love, but similarly odd, 'experimental' tracks continue throughout the majority of the album.
Naturally, the preponderance of instrumentals and mood pieces (including dulcimer-sounding renditions of
"Greensleeves" and "O Tannenbaum") is due to the fact that this is a soundtrack. (The film, set for release in July,
apparently chronicles "unflinchingly" an intergenerational Gay relationship between a fifteen-year-old and an
"ex-soccer coach," who sounds like a real loser.) It's hard to know if Merritt put together the instrumental fragments to
augment and justify the inclusion of his other songs in the movie, or if he was more interested in experimenting with
filmic incidentals and included the pop tunes out of obligation to his fans. Though there's nothing wrong with the
instrumentals (they work quite nicely as background music and lend an interesting flow to the album), I suspect that
most people are more interested in the songs. There are six of them, and they are very much worth your time. The
hummable melodies are very typical of Merritt, as are the quirky, reverb-laden arrangements. Standouts include the
gorgeously sung "Maria Maria Maria" and the appropriately titled "This Little Ukelele," but the best thing here is
probably "Poppyland," a bouncy ode to a utopia where, in a line whose authorship is unmistakeable, "all your favorite
things/are painted on the wings/of the butterflies." In comparison with other Merritt releases (say, oh, 1999's
staggering 69 Love Songs, these six pretty little ditties hardly make this a must-purchase. But they should serve
perfectly adequately to tide fans over for now. (Oh, by the way, the Magnetic Fields just signed a new record deal with
Nonesuch, besides which Stephin is apparently working on a new Future Bible Heroes album, as well as some project
of songs based on childrens books.) (6/10)"

An Old Man's Voice; A Young Man's Idealistic View of Love

WrtnWrd | Northridge, CA USA | 02/14/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Stephin Merritt's evocative score for Eban and Charley is a musique concrete version of his others projects (Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, etc.). The instrumentals are tinkling, childlike backdrops incorporating the sounds of crickets, music boxes, toy pianos, rain storms, etc., fitting for a film about the relationship between a 29-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy. The lyrical songs feature a muted version of Merritt's grand irony and romanticism - again, in keeping with the film's clear-eyed depiction of its touchy subject matter. Whether or not the relationship in the film is consummated, the longing in these songs is palpable, painful. Merritt's dry croak of a singing style - an old man's voice married to a young man's idealistic view of love - is creepy in this context, and all the more convincing for it."

Six real songs and lots of background music

sde10 | Ann Arbor, MI USA | 09/21/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This soundtrack contains both the songs and the background music from the movie and of it's 16 tracks, ten are the latter. Further, the background music is mostly experiemental and, in my opinion, not particularly interesting. Some of the six songs are great, though. I love "This little ukelele.' More than any other song on this album, it sounds like a Magnetic Fields tune and ranks among Stephen Merritt's best. "Poppyland" and "Some Summer Day" are also strong songs with all of Merritt's emotion. "Water Torture," on the other hand, is truly torture.Stephen Merritt fans should definately buy this CD. If you don't know if you're a Stephen Merritt fan, buy "Get Lost", "Distant Plastic Trees" and "69 Love SOngs" buy the Magnetic Fields first and then buy this once you fall in love those CDs. (Of course, even then, you'll want to buy some othe Stephen Merritt CDs first.)"