About this Event
Event guidelines:
- Bundled tickets include a special SIGNED vinyl pressing and a zine written by Emma Straub.
- Additional copies of the vinyl will be available for purchase at the event.
- As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we'll work it out.
If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected].
In celebration of The Magnetic Fields’ 2012 album Love at the Bottom of the Sea, Brooklyn’s Books Are Magic and Merge Records are teaming up for a special repressing of the classic album on “Hootie” yellow vinyl. Each of the limited edition pressings are signed by band leader Stephin Merritt.
The celebration will include a special performance by Stephin Merrit, as well as a conversation between Merrit and his good friend Emma Straub, New York Times-bestselling novelist and co-owner of the store.
The song “Andrew In Drag” from the album has been recently rediscovered and recontextualized by a new generation of fans on TikTok and other social media platforms. When Merritt penned the song in 2012, its story of a young straight man finding yearning and desire outside of his traditional heteronormative value system was considered pretty shocking, but in recent years the song has found recognition and celebration within a diverse community that embraces the fluidity of sexual expression and desire.
The upbeat electronic pop songs that fill Love at the Bottom of the Sea signal a return to the band’s earlier approach on 90s Merge releases The Charm of the Highway Strip and Get Lost, a mix of synth and acoustic sounds that remain charming, witty, and capable of rending the listener’s heart in an instant.
Stephin Merritt releases albums as The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies and Future Bible Heroes. With the Magnetic Fields, he has written, produced, and recorded 13 albums to date, including the lauded 3-disc album, 69 Love Songs. He composed original music and lyrics for three music theater pieces directed by Chen Shi-Zheng, and in 2008, mounted an Off-Broadway stage musical of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, for which he won an Obie Award. Merritt wrote film scores for the Academy Award–nominated film Pieces of April and for the independent film Eban and Charley. Merritt’s song “The Book of Love” was recorded separately by Peter Gabriel and Olivia Rodrigo, performed live by Chappell Roan and Lucy Dacus, and appears in the film Shall We Dance, as well as in numerous TV shows. In 2014, Merritt collaborated with cartoonist Roz Chast to publish a book of poems, 101 Two Letter Words. In April, 2026, Stephin Merritt was named by The New York Times as one of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Books Are Magic Smith, 225 Smith Street, Brooklyn, United States
USD 10.89 to USD 30.49
