Distant Plastic Trees

The album has a stripped down sound and largely synthesized instrumentation. Stephin Merritt described the album as "intentionally small" and "influenced by Young Marble Giants".{{cite web |last1=Krewson |first1=John |title=Stephin Merritt |url=https://www.avclub.com/stephin-merritt-1798207855 |website=The A.V. Club |date=4 June 1997 |access-date=15 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618175422/https://www.avclub.com/stephin-merritt-1798207855 |archive-date=18 June 2018}} The main instruments on the record are a Roland S-50 sampler, Korg Poly-800 and ARP Odyssey synthesizers, and a Yamaha RX-21 drum machine; "Plant White Roses" features an acoustic guitar. Merritt used Digital Performer for production due to its advanced quantization.{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Ryan H. |title=The Magnetic Fields' '100,000 Fireflies' Sounds The Way Being Lonely Feels |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/09/22/1039378616/the-magnetic-fields-100-000-fireflies-susan-anway-remembrance |website=NPR |access-date=15 April 2025 |date=22 September 2021}}

The song "Babies Falling" is a cover of a song by the Wild Stares.

Distant Plastic Trees was originally released in Japan and the United Kingdom on the RCA Victor and Red Flame labels, respectively. The album was released in the United States on the band's own imprint, PoPuP.

Merge Records reissued the album in 1994 as a double album compilation with the band's second album, The Wayward Bus.{{Cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/the-magnetic-fields-the-wayward-bus-distant-plastic-trees-reissue-2495406693.html|title=The Magnetic Fields: The Wayward Bus / Distant Plastic Trees (Reissue)|date=December 21, 2016|website=PopMatters}} The song "Plant White Roses" was omitted from the Merge reissue.

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/distant-plastic-trees-mw0000967053 |title=Distant Plastic Trees – Magnetic Fields |publisher=AllMusic |accessdate=February 22, 2016 |last=Orens |first=Geoff}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Consumer Guide

| rev2score = {{Rating-Christgau|neither}}{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=9020 |chapter=Magnetic Fields: Distant Plastic Trees |accessdate=February 22, 2016 |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=0-312-24560-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/christgausconsum00chri_0 }}

|rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=5 |page=436}}

| rev4 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev4Score = 7/10{{cite book |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |publisher=Vintage Books |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-75574-8}}

}}

(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide wrote that the first two albums "showcase sexually ambiguous lyrics, loopy arrangements, and the disaffected voice of Susan Anway... But they also suffer from an air of inconsequentiality."{{cite book |title=(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=510}} Trouser Press wrote that "the baroque pop structures of songs like 'Smoke Signals' are redolent of the classics Merritt clearly holds dear, but his impressionistic wordplay — which often alights on bracing, upsetting images — seldom settles into simple cliché."{{cite web |title=Magnetic Fields |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/magnetic-fields/ |website=Trouser Press |accessdate=13 November 2020}}

{{Track listing

|all_writing = Stephin Merritt, except where noted

|title1 = Railroad Boy

|length1 = 2:59

|title2 = Smoke Signals

|length2 = 3:28

|title3 = You Love to Fail

|length3 = 2:30

|title4 = Kings

|length4 = 2:15

|title5 = Babies Falling

|writer5 = {{hlist| Steve Gregoropoulos | Fran Miller | Justin Burrill}}

|length5 = 3:18

|title6 = Living in an Abandoned Firehouse with You

|writer6 = {{hlist| Merritt | John Gage | Genève Gil}}

|length6 = 3:58

|title7 = Tar-Heel Boy

|length7 = 2:26

|title8 = Falling in Love with the Wolfboy

|length8 = 4:05

|title9 = Josephine

|length9 = 3:08

|title10 = 100,000 Fireflies

|length10 = 3:20

|title11 = Plant White Roses

|length11 = 4:52

}}

• Stephin Merritt – songwriting, instrumentation and production

;Additional personnel

• Susan Anway – lead vocals
• Ken Michaels – engineering
• Wendy Smith – album cover
• Art Daly – insert photo

{{Reflist}}

{{The Magnetic Fields}}

{{Stephin Merritt}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:The Magnetic Fields albums

Category:1991 debut albums

Category:RCA Victor albums