Album Review: The Magnetic Fields - 50 Song Memoir

This five-disc set chronicling 50 years of singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt's life — one song per year — will cause fans' minds to unravel as they become saturated with extraordinarily detailed admissions from all stages of his life.

There are tales ranging from demented childhood cats to the charting of his own musical infatuations and synth fetishes. The highlights (see: the blissful Have You Seen It In The Snow?) are quite spread out, but the storytelling becomes so immersive that after listening from start to finish, you'll almost believe you actually are Merritt.