Although they began as a two-piece in 1991, recording minimalist, electronic pop, by the mid-'90s The Magnetic Fields had an average of six members. Though the lineup would shift at the will of the group's leader, Stephin Merritt, they consistently focused on non-rock instrumentation such as ukulele and accordion, with songwriting that took unlikely inspiration from vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley. A seminal indie pop group, The Magnetic Fields have tended toward the cerebral, at times focusing heavily on very specific musical concepts, like with their three-disc release 69 Love Songs.