Under cover
Stephin Merritt puts words in singers' mouths
By Lawrence Ferber
On the two albums released by The 6ths, openly gay musician Stephin Merritt has heard his songs recorded by a number of acclaimed vocalists. Yet what makes these cover albums different from other pop tributes is the fact Merritt initiates them himself.
"All artistic work is an ego trip," Merritt smiles. "Putting out albums is an ego trip. There’s no gradation in degree between this ego trip and another one."
Merritt’s ego trips include performing with no fewer than four bands, including The Magnetic Fields (whose recent three-disc opus 69 Love Songs ended up on nearly every music critic’s Top 10 list last year), dark popsters The Gothic Archies, and light popsters The Future Bible Heroes. Merritt leaves no genre goes untapped between projects.
"The 6ths is my songs and production sung by celebrity singers … beautifully," Merritt explains in his deadpan register. "Typically, I’ll write the song that’ll be for The 6ths so I don’t have to sing it well. I decide on a singer, have some back-ups, send a rough mix of the track with a scratch vocal by me and a lyric sheet, and often hear nothing for months."
On Hyacinths and Thistles (Merge), the second album by The 6ths, artists Merritt eventually heard back from included Scottish indie sensation Momus, The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, The Squirrel Nut Zippers’ Katherine Whalen, The Mekons’ Sally Timms, Gary Numan ("in falsetto even"), and famously gay ex-Husker Du man Bob Mould -- who recorded an uncharacteristic piano ballad with Kiki and Herb’s pianist Kenny Mellman.
"How did I get Bob Mould to sing a piano ballad?" Merritt asks rhetorically, emitting a rare chuckle. "He has an incredibly loud voice which I wish I had, and anyone who can sing loud can sing quietly. So I knew he would be good for a piano ballad, and his accent is just right for that song. He says ‘dance’ in a completely unpretentious way which is important for the delivery of that song. As opposed to ‘will you dahnce with me.’ I would never have a British person sing that."
Merritt often knows exactly what singer he has in mind for a particular song. He scribed "Volcana!" for British singer Marc Almond before The 6ths even came to be; Almond sings the song on the new album.
"He’s great," Merritt says of Almond. "He speaks at the rate of Camille Paglia and is very funny. I probably had a crush on him when I was 11. Actually, I had a crush on (Almond’s partner in Soft Cell) Dave Ball when I was 11."
Yet Merritt admits his most exciting celebrity coup this time around was finding and securing an appearance by ‘60s superstar Odetta, who recorded 16 albums in the ‘60s alone.
"I was there at her recording session," Merritt recalls. "She told me that she saw the song ‘Waltzing Me All The Way Back Home’ as being about two gay black soldiers in World War II, which is completely different from what I thought of the song being about. I don’t generally think of my characters in visual terms so I didn’t have any race in mind. I also don’t really think of singers in visual terms."
As for future installments from The 6ths, Merritt is considering approaching contemporary French chanteuse Patricia Kaas, Amanda Lear, Grace Jones, and even Madonna.
" I’d have to be very careful about what song to write for Madonna," Merritt admits. "She’s had Sondheim songs written for her."
|
E-mail New York Blade News Copyright © 1999 New York Blade News, Inc. |
|
This article appeared in the issue of:
September 15, 2000