The Zinnias

So I know Stephin Merritt seems to get a ridiculous amount of press on this site, but I don't know what to say, I just can't stop talking about the guy. For those that are interested in anything and everything involving The Magnetic Fields, I give you the precursor: The Zinnias. Back in the mid-80s, Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson formed a band while in high school. The result was an odd, noodley, noise pop group called The Zinnias. Warbled and unstable, each song is a quick and clumsy romp. Merritt's voice seems to be missing from these recordings (although, there is a low voice that comes in on "Screech" that sounds very much like the man himself). Instead a much higher pitched, while still relatively deadpan vocalist is in his place. His lyrics are far more abstract than the relationship based songs he would became famous for, and Gonson (who very well may be playing drums on these songs) is clearly audible vocal wise, the first glimmer of a lifelong collaboration. Probably the most enticing element here is the presence of two future Magnetic Fields tracks - "Kings" and "Farbege" (later remade as "Lovers From The Moon"), both of which would morph into dreamier versions of themselves on Distant Plastic Trees and The Wayward Bus respectively.

Here's the link from fellow blog, The Mythic Signifier. Thank you for finding this mate.