Fri. April 6 & Sat. April 7

      Stephin Merritt,  leader of the Magnetic Fields, is nothing if not contrarian.    “The last Magnetic Fields album, ‘Realism,’ was sort of a folk album,” says Merritt, 46, on the phone last week from Toronto. “I usually react against the previous album. This is sort of the opposite of folk.”   
    “This” would be “Love at the Bottom of the Sea,” the New York-based group’s recently released 11th album, comprised of 15 perky, dark and droll electro-pop songs.  So, when Merritt –who sings, writes and plays multiple instruments - brings his quintet to Berklee Performance Center Friday April 6 and Saturday April 7 should you expect a stage strewn with synthesizers?     “We’re not using any synthesizers,” Merritt said. ”We don’t usually use anything like the original instrumentation on stage.  Even if I did bring it along with me, the sound would be very difficult to replicate. On top of which, you wouldn’t be able to see anything. There would be no physical evidence of what was happening. It would be very dull to watch.”
     Merritt then caught himself. “I don’t mean to imply the Magnetic Fields are in any way exciting,” he added. “We sit down. We don’t move about like other people. [Pianist] Claudia [Gonson] sings one song standing up instead of at the keyboard and she gets lots of applause for it.”
     Magnetic Fields has made its mark by exploring multiple genres, the link being Merritt’s astute pop craftsmanship, his sepulchral voice and mordant wit.   “Any album I’ve ever done,” Merritt said, “could be called ‘Tragedy in a Major Key.’”
      On “Sea” there are songs about revenge, death and horrible situations. “It seems people are noticing that,” Merritt said, “but there is a lot of death on the previous record as well, a folk record after all. But maybe there’s not a lot of death on a typical electro-pop record so they’re hearing it as this disconnect between the presumed genre and presumed content.”
       Merritt’s long been a fan of short-form song – the lengthiest tune on the new disc is “Born for Love,” clocking in at 2:39.
     “I grew up on them,” he said. “You couldn’t get a song on the radio before 1970 if it was longer than three minutes. I don’t understand why that shouldn’t continue to be the case. I like brevity. I like terseness and conciseness. I don’t smoke marijuana so I don’t need a lot of repetition in my life. I’m more on the Ramones side of things.”
    Lead vocals on the new album are split by Merritt and auto harpist Shirley Simms, with Gonson singing one song. Merritt has a deep Leonard Cohen-like voice. “It’s the nature of a bass voice, that it makes people want to fall asleep,” Merritt said. “That’s the entire charm of a bass voice, so it’s really kind of a rotten way to have a concert.” The female voices add a contrasting tone. He considers what he, Simms and Gonson do as comparable to ‘60s duo Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra.
     How does it feel with Magnetic Fields being on their first tour in more than two years?
     “If I could not tour,” Merritt said, “I would definitely not tour. It’s a huge waste of my energy and it’s basically there to sell t-shirts. I don’t feel like I have anything to contribute to the art of live music, if there is such an art anymore. I don’t like live music. I don’t go to see live music. I have hearing trouble which prevents me from appreciating amplified anything.”
      This is not the kind of thing that, say, Bruce Springsteen would offer as a concert approaches.
      “I’ve been saying it for a long time and it seems to not hurt or enhance ticket sales,” Merritt said. “Who cares what my opinion is?”

(This is an expanded version of a story that ran in the Boston Herald, www.bostonherald.com Friday.)

DeVotchKa opens at 8. Tickets: $32.50.

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