AFTER three synthless albums, Magnetic Fields’ commander Stephen Merritt has decided it’s time to pack away his band’s acoustic leanings.

How this should then work is that they make an effortless return to pushing the sound most people associate them with into new and eye-opening territory. How it actually turns out is that the Fields sound ring-rusty, clumsy and short on genuine quality material.

God Wants Us To Wait and the matt-black humour of Your Girlfriend’s Face are sharp, original and sinister, and Quick! shows they’ve still got a touch of charm when they’re at ease with themselves. But most of the spaces between are filled with a graceless mix of The Divine Comedy and The Dream Academy and Merritt’s self-satisfied, look-at-me-mum lyrics – for such a free-thinking songwriter, his punchlines can be seen around the next corner.

Love At The Bottom Of The Sea was maybe always going to be a staging-post for the Fields, but as far as synth-pop is concerned, you can’t exactly say it feels like they’ve never been away.