48 hours: Stephin Merritt does NPR’s Project Song

Posted November 29th, 2007 by k

All Things Considered, November 5, 2007 – The challenge: Write and record a song — in two days.

The instructions: Choose one photo to inspire the subject of the song; choose a word or phrase that will inspire the style.

An odd but vaguely fascinating glimpse into the mind and methods of a modern day songwriting genius. (And my god does he make it look easy. fucker.) Here’s the finished song as an mp3. (via some hot analog line-in action)
Stephin Merritt – Man of a Million Faces

Update: Yes, it appears I am a month late to this. sigh.

“to sound more like Jesus And Mary Chain than Jesus And Mary Chain.” – Uncut
To make this post somewhat valuable, here’s the track listing for the new record, Distortion, due in January:

01. Three-Way
02. California Girls
03. Old Fools
04. Xavier Says
05. Mr Mistletoe
06. Please Stop Dancing
07. Drive On, Driver
08. Too Drunk To Dream
09. Till The Bitter End
10. I’ll Dream Alone
11. The Nun’s Litany
12. Zombie Boy
13. Courtesans

Tags: link · mp3