Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields

The 2011 Glasgow Film Festival kick off their Music and Film strand early with the Scottish premiere of Strange Powers later this month. Organised in conjunction with indie clubnight Bottle Rocket, this documentary follows cult songwriter Stephin Merritt, most famous for his work in the Magnetic Fields. Merritt’s mix of misanthropy and romanticism has garnered celebrity admirers (Peter Gabriel, Sarah Silverman and Neil Gaiman all appear in the film to extol his virtues) and a reputation as one of the finest purveyors of pop working today. Especially beloved is his three-disc opus 69 Love Songs, which delivered love, lust, loss and lasciviousness, and prompted Pitchfork to remark at the time, “there’s only one question that really needs to be asked: is it a brilliant masterpiece, or merely very, very good?”  

Having followed Merritt for over a decade, directors Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara have produced an intimate portrait of the notoriously grumpy/secretive artist, focusing in on his close relationship with collaborator and friend Claudia Gonson. With Professor of Popular Music Martin Cloonan providing an introduction on the night, Strange Powers promises to peek beneath Merritt’s sardonic façade to shed some light on one of pop’s most intriguing figures.