B-sides and rarities collections can often help give fans insight into their favorite artists’ creative processes, or at the very least, provide either a light snack between releases or a post-retirement victory lap, but when an artist as prolific as
Stephin Merritt decides to clean house, it can be a little daunting. Over the years,
Merritt's seemingly endless supply of wry, melodic, basement electro-folk songs has required him to use multiple pseudonyms (
Magnetic Fields,
the 6ths,
the Gothic Archies), nearly all which of make an appearance on
Obscurities. At its best, the collection stirs some up left-field gems like “Forever and a Day” and “When You’re Young and in Love,” both of which were pulled from an unfinished musical called The Song from Venus, and the breezy
Wasps’ Nest outtake “Yet Another Girl.” ~ James Christopher Monger