I (The Magnetic Fields album)

i is the seventh studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was released on May 4, 2004, by record label Nonesuch. The songs of the album all start with the letter "i" and are all sung by Stephin Merritt. The songs are also in alphabetical order.

Musical style
The album ditches many of Stephin Merritt's past synthpop and electropop influences, largely being led by guitars and strings. It was followed in 2008, by Distortion, and in 2010, by Realism, which were both also free of synthesizer instrumentation, forming the so-called "no-synth trilogy".

Album cover
The cover art, designed by Evan Gaffney, is based on Gravity in Four Directions by Fred Tomaselli.

Reception
i has been well received by critics. It currently holds a score of 79/100 on review aggregator website Metacritic. A track-by-track tribute to the album, entitled ¡AYE!, was released by Jackson & the Wargonauts in 2014.

Personnel

 * The Magnetic Fields


 * Stephin Merritt – vocals, instrumentation, production
 * Claudia Gonson – drums and percussion, piano, harpsichord, background vocals, arrangement on "In an Operetta"
 * Sam Davol – cello
 * John Woo – banjo, guitar, electric sitar


 * Technical


 * Charles Newman – recording
 * Ravi Krishnaswami – recording
 * Charles Newman – additional production, mixing
 * Jeff Lipton – mastering
 * Vincent Giangola – additional editing on "I Don't Believe You"
 * David Merrill – recording on "In an Operetta"