Distant Plastic Trees is the 1991 debut album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields

The Magnetic Fields is the principal creative outlet of singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt...

, featuring the lead vocals of Susan Anway. Merge Records

Merge Records

Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...

 reissued the album in 1994 as a double album compilation with the band's following release, The Wayward Bus

The Wayward Bus (album)

The Wayward Bus is a 1992 album by The Magnetic Fields. It is the follow-up to the band's debut album, Distant Plastic Trees, and the last album to feature Susan Anway as lead vocalist. The album was reissued by Merge Records in 1994 as the first half of a double album compilation with Distant...

. The song "Plant White Roses" was omitted from the Merge reissue.

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

The Merge reissue includes a silence of four minutes and thirty-three seconds before "Railroad Boy" which could be an unlisted cover of John Cage's

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

 silent piece, 4′33″.

Track listing

All tracks written by Stephin Merritt except where noted.

1. "Railroad Boy" – 2:59
2. "Smoke Signals" – 3:28
3. "You Love to Fail" – 2:30
4. "Kings" – 2:15
5. "Babies Falling" – 3:18 (Steve Gregoropoulos/Fran Miller/Justin Burrill)
6. "Living in an Abandoned Firehouse with You" – 3:58 (Merritt/Gage/Gil)
7. "Tar-Heel Boy" – 2:26
8. "Falling in Love with the Wolfboy" – 4:05
9. "Josephine" – 3:08
10. "100,000 Fireflies" – 3:20
11. "Plant White Roses" – 4:52

Personnel

• Stephin Merritt
  Stephin Merritt
  Stephin Merritt is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles , best known as the principal singer and songwriter in the band The Magnetic Fields...
  
   - songwriting, instrumentation and production
• Susan Anway - lead vocals
• Ken Michaels - engineering
• Wendy Smith - album cover
• Art Daly - insert photo