Stephin Merritt, whose piquant playfulness with The Magnetic Fields has seen him described as this generation’s Cole Porter or Irving Berlin, may not be quite ready for that league?not just yet. But his sanguine voice, shrewd words and mauve melodies do mark him out as a songwriter of genuine, um, merit. Here he colours Peter Hedges’ new film with five new songs and five drawn from his albums with the Fields and The 6ths. There are clever couplets and wry winks, but the melancholy is authentic. Of the new stuff, “All I Want To Know” and “One April Day” will linger longest, while “Stray With Me” (what a knowing title!) is so arch it touches its toes.
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