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Magnetic Fields Break Four-Year Road Hiatus

Experimental-pop band to launch 69 Love Songs tour in New York.

Eccentric pop songwriter Stephin Merritt will end a touring drought next month when his band, the Magnetic Fields, hits the road for the first time in four years. The 10-date tour in support of the upcoming 69 Love Songs will kick off on Sept. 9 at the Knitting Factory in New York and wind down on Sept. 25 at Spaceland in Los Angeles.

Formed in the early '90s by Merritt, the Magnetic Fields are, in essence, a one-man band augmented by guest musicians who drop in to shade Merritt's synth-pop recordings with tubas, cellos and percussion.

Mixing an obsession with the sugary pop of bands such as Swedish quartet Abba with darkly humorous lyrics, Merritt has released five full-length albums under the name Magnetic Fields.

Known for his moody baritone, Merritt has spread his melancholic pop sensibility across a number of other side projects for the past decade, including the 6ths, Future Bible Heroes and the Gothic Archies.

The Magnetic Fields achieved their greatest fame with the wistful college-radio pop hit "100,000 Fireflies," from the album Distant Plastic Trees.

The group's first new album in over four years, 69 Love Songs, is due out in late August as a three-CD box set.

Magnetic Fields Tour Dates:

Sept. 9-10; New York, N.Y.; Knitting Factory

Sept. 15; Toronto, Ontario; Lee's Palace

Sept. 16; Detroit, Mich.; Magic Stick

Sept. 17; Chicago, Ill.; Double Door

Sept. 18; Oberlin, Ohio; The Dionysus

Sept. 21; Seattle, Wash.; Crocodile Cafe

Sept. 22; Portland, Ore.; Aladdin Theatre

Sept. 24; San Francisco, Calif.; Great American Music Hall

Sept. 25; Los Angeles, Calif.; Spaceland

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