Song of the Week: The 6ths

The 6ths: "Falling Out of Love With You"

The 6ths was one of the numerous projects of songwriter extraordinaire Stephin Merritt (best known for the Magnetic Fields) in which various indie rock luminati were recruited to sing Merritt's songs, with singers like Lou Barlow, Barbara Manning, Chris Knox, Bob Mould and Gary Numan interpreting the songs to Merritt's synth-pop instrumental backing on two albums released in 1995 and 2000. I originally dove into Songza looking for "Heaven In a Black Leather Jacket", a wonderful 6ths tune sung by Robert Scott of the Bats, which I've owned on a vinyl seven-inch since the mid 1990s. No luck there, but I did find the charming "Falling Out of Love With You", with vocals by Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500/Luna (semi-)fame. I've been a fan of Wareham for a long time, though for his guitar work and admittedly not his vocals. But he does quite well on this song, I think.

Wareham has been getting a fair amount of press lately, with his rock memoir Black Postcards having just been published. Guest reviewer Tim Frederick gave the book a glowing assessment recently at Largehearted Boy. Sounds like a good one, and a refreshing break from all the narcissistic, here's-all-the-drugs-and-women-I-did Rock God dreck out there.