Pitchfork

We know, we know: yet another indie-rock icon dipping his toe into the murky waters of avant-garde Chinese folk opera. Been there, done that, got the paper umbrella. But this particular icon is Stephin Merritt, so just maybe, the July release of Two Chinese Operas on Nonesuch may stand out in this dreadfully crowded field.

According to House of Tomorrow, the official Merritt/Magnetic Fields/etc. web site, Two Chinese Operas will devote a disc apiece to Merritt's two previous collaborations with film-turned-stage director Chen Shi-Zheng. His score for 2003's The Orphan of Zhao brought bluegrass inflections to a story from the 12th-century Chinese stage (just like Kid A, right?). Last year, Merritt and Chen teamed up again for Peach Blossom Fan, perhaps the only cultural work ever mentioned by both Pitchfork and Asian Theatre Journal. Although the music from both will be included on Two Chinese Operas, we don't yet know how. Live cast recordings? New studio recordings? Ringtones?

Merritt and Chen will premiere their new opera, My Life as a Fairy Tale, in New York this summer; unlike their earlier work, this one isn't set in China-- it's based on the life of Danish fabulist Hans Christian Andersen (just like Permission To Land, right?). House of Tomorrow also reports that Merritt is working on Coraline, a musical adaptation of a children's book by Sandman creator Neil Gaiman. It plays Brooklyn in fall 2006, followed by a tour through the provinces.

* Stephin Merritt: