Stephen Merritt is almost a music academic: cold, detached, mathematical, studying pop form in order to bend it to his will. He builds Magnetic Fields albums like he’s laying brick. But his constructions perfectly balance the droll and the bitter — and they’ve never been better than on this disc. Our favorite line, from “Too Drunk To Dream”: “Sober, life is a prison / shitfaced, it is a blessing! / Sober, nobody wants you / shitfaced, they’re all undressing!”