Putting aside the fuzzy Jesus and Mary Chain homage of Distortion for a more folksy and cuddly acoustic sound, The Magnetic Fields get real on Realism (Nonesuch). The constant is out gay frontman Stephin Merritt's deft and delicious wordplay. The Stephen Sondheim of his generation, Merritt is the king (or queen, if you will) of the cruel turn of phrase. He writes the kind of pithy quips that we wish we'd said to a deserving ex, as in the opener "You Must Be Out of Your Mind."

"We Are Having a Hootenanny" is as much a rootin'-tootin' jab at the hipster insurgent country crowd as a foot-stomping celebration. There's even some international flair, from the plucky Asian influence on "I Don't Know What to Say" to the glockenspiel gallop and German lyrics of "Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree." "Seduced and Abandoned" could reel in the Dresden Dolls crowd, and "The Dada Polka" may do the same for fans of Devotchka and Gogol Bordello. I spoke with Merritt shortly before he and the Fields embarked on tour.

Gregg Shapiro: There is a "no synths" declaration in the CD booklets for Realism, Distortion and I. Why was it important to get that out in the open?

Stephin Merritt: I was doing it in tribute to Queen, who did that for every album until the soundtrack to Flash Gordon. Making Flash Gordon without synthesizers would have been just perverse.

Realism has international flair. What was the impetus?

I think it was the music stores in Los Angeles. I moved my studio to Los Angeles in June 2006, and started going to the music stores, where they have a very different selection of instruments than in New York. They have a lot more Central and South American stringed instruments, and also they have larger instruments in general because real estate isn't an issue. So I was able to get large instruments like a vibraphone and a guzheng, which is the Chinese version of a koto, and a hammer dulcimer, things that real estate in New York was forbidding me from even contemplating.

You've cited Judy Collins as an inspiration for Realism, which made me think of the way she balanced being a performing songwriter with being an interpreter of other people's songs. What's your opinion when someone from outside your circle interprets a song of yours, such as Kelly Hogan's reading of "Papa Was a Rodeo?"

I'm thinking of Peter Gabriel and "The Book of Love." Peter Gabriel's voice is fantastically different from mine. His interpretation is basically unrecognizable. If I could sing like Peter Gabriel, I too could afford to live in England.

Are you comfortable with other people covering your songs?

Oh, yes. I would prefer just to be a songwriter.

Realism contains more of your trademark wordplay. "Seduced and Abandoned" is reminiscent of Stephen Sondheim. Is Sondheim an influence? Are there any others you would care to mention?

I never liked the word influence. Stephen Sondheim is the competition, as is Tom Lehrer. I interviewed Tom Lehrer when his box set came out [in 2000], which was soon after my box set [69 Love Songs ] came out. And I had sent him a copy. He actually listened to some of it and said, "Now, you realize that 69 Love Songs is 67 too many." He went to summer camp with Stephen Sondheim. He had a sort of parallel though shorter career in some ways, as the two factions of strict rhyme. Tom Lehrer disapproved of my loose rhymes. And just after that, I started doing theater music, which requires strict rhymes. So I fell out of the habit of doing loose rhymes at all.

When you write a song such as "You Must Be Out of Your Mind," do you have a specific person in mind, or is it intended to be universal?

It's universal. People who write mean songs about recognizable other people are doing something that shouldn't be done in art.

We're speaking a couple of days after the Grammy Awards aired on TV. Did you watch the show?

I don't have a television. If I had a television, I would never get any work done, like everybody else who has a television.