SONGS: OHIA
Mi sei apparso come un fantasma
Paper Cup
· A very different live incarnation of Songs: Ohia than the one recently seen in Calgary.
Considering Italy’s reputation as the home of the world’s largest bootlegging operations, and the fact that five of the eight tracks presented here are "Untitled," it’s easy to mistake Songs: Ohia’s Mi sei apparso come un fantasma as an illegal facsimile.
But that isn’t the case. Recorded live in Modena, Italy in September of 2000, fantasma shows yet another side of Jason Molina’s Songs: Ohia – that of a fine-tuned guitar assault. Featuring a full band (as opposed to the solo arrangements of Molina’s recent Canadian tour) and a batch of material so hot off the presses nothing was even named yet, fantasma makes a good case for Ohia’s ability to captivate an audience.
While Molina doesn’t talk much, perhaps the most telling remark captured on tape is his suggestion to the band to refrain from "the big cock rock ending" on one song (that has since been named "Constant Change"). Whereas elsewhere Molina and friends prove they can make a pretty racket, the majority of this record proves that they don’t really need to.
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