Distant Plastic Trees

Distant Plastic Trees is the debut studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields, released in 1991.[5] Lead vocals on the album are performed by Susan Anway.[6]

Distant Plastic Trees
Studio album by The Magnetic Fields
Released	1991
Genre	Synthpop, twee pop, indie pop
Length	36:18
Label	PoPuP, Victor, Red Flame
Producer	Stephin Merritt
The Magnetic Fields chronology
Distant Plastic Trees (1991) The Wayward Bus (1992)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	7/10[4]

The album is noteworthy for its stripped down sound and largely synthesized instrumentation. Stephin Merritt himself described the album as a "small record, intentionally small" and heavily inspired by Young Marble Giants.[7]

The song "Babies Falling" is a cover of a song by The Wild Stares.

Release

Distant Plastic Trees was originally released in Japan and the United Kingdom on the RCA Victor and Red Flame labels, respectively. The album was released in the United States on the band's own imprint, PoPuP.

Merge Records reissued the album in 1994 as a double album compilation with the band's second album, The Wayward Bus.[8] The song "Plant White Roses" was omitted from the Merge reissue.

Reception

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide wrote that the first two albums "showcase sexually ambiguous lyrics, loopy arrangements, and the disaffected voice of Susan Anway ... But they also suffer from an air of inconsequentiality."[9] Trouser Press wrote that "the baroque pop structures of songs like 'Smoke Signals' are redolent of the classics Merritt clearly holds dear, but his impressionistic wordplay — which often alights on bracing, upsetting images — seldom settles into simple cliché."[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Stephin Merritt, except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Railroad Boy"		2:59
2.	"Smoke Signals"		3:28
3.	"You Love to Fail"		2:30
4.	"Kings"		2:15
5.	"Babies Falling"	Steve Gregoropoulos Fran Miller Justin Burrill	3:18
6.	"Living in an Abandoned Firehouse with You"	Merritt John Gage Genève Gil	3:58
7.	"Tar-Heel Boy"		2:26
8.	"Falling in Love with the Wolfboy"		4:05
9.	"Josephine"		3:08
10.	"100,000 Fireflies"		3:20
11.	"Plant White Roses"		4:52

Personnel

• Stephin Merritt – songwriting, instrumentation and production

Additional personnel

• Susan Anway – lead vocals
• Ken Michaels – engineering
• Wendy Smith – album cover
• Art Daly – insert photo

References

1. Orens, Geoff. "Distant Plastic Trees – Magnetic Fields". AllMusic. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
2. Christgau, Robert (2000). "Magnetic Fields: Distant Plastic Trees". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
3. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Volume 5: MUZE. p. 436.CS1 maint: location (link)
4. Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
5. "Magnetic Fields | Biography & History". AllMusic.
6. Buckley, Peter (November 13, 2003). "The Rough Guide to Rock". Rough Guides – via Google Books.
7. "Stephin Merritt". The A.V. Club.
8. "The Magnetic Fields: The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees (Reissue)". PopMatters. December 21, 2016.
9. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Simon & Schuster. 2004. p. 510.
10. "Magnetic Fields". Trouser Press. Retrieved 13 November 2020.