Preview
MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO.
Saturday, May 7
The Hifi Club
For the decade prior to 2003’s instant classic The Magnolia Electric Co., Jason Molina released a steady stream of constantly evolving, slow-as-molasses heartbreak rock under the moniker Songs: Ohia. Each recorded with a different lineup of players and in different locations around the globe (most infamously, 2000’s The Lioness was recorded with the cream of the Scottish indie scene crop), Molina’s lovelorn ballads ranged from the lengthy minimalist mood pieces of "Ghost Tropic" to the Will Oldham endorsed rambles of "Songs: Ohia" and "Impala."
As a swansong, The Magnolia Electric Co. blended all of Molina’s earlier costumes into a brilliant update of ’70s driving rock – the first time a Songs: Ohia album has sounded like the work of an actual band instead of an assembled group of support players. It’s fitting, then, that Molina has closed the book on Songs: Ohia and, borrowing the title of that story’s final chapter, returns with an official band and a new direction.
From the road, where Molina typically spends much of his time, his reasoning for the name change carries a dual weight. "(It) was mainly meant to be a marker for the 10th year of Songs: Ohia. Ultimately I decided that Didn’t It Rain was the record that most effectively summarized all of what I was trying to get across for all those years. I want a new challenge and have started to write songs without any worries about how they are all connected to the hundreds and hundreds of other songs I’ve recorded."
While Magnolia Electric Co.’s first official bow came earlier this year with the limited-edition live record Trials and Errors (now out of print), the brand new What Comes After the Blues, recorded live to tape with Steve Albini, presents a relaxed, confident Molina. He is as content to hold the spotlight with the sparse acoustic shuffle "Hammer Down" as he is stepping into the background for co-vocalist Jennie Benford’s self-penned and performed "The Night Shift Lullaby." At under 40 minutes, it’s also his most concise and moving collection yet.
Of his compatriots, Molina is not merely a bandleader, but a solid fan. "Basically in Southern Indiana you have a huge amount of musicians. I was able to see a lot of good bands playing out, and through seeing these bands over and over and meeting them, I wasn’t surprised to find myself playing in a group with some of my favourite musicians," he says. Jennie Benford is best known for her work with Jennie and the Pinetops, whereas bassist Pete Schreiner, guitarist Jason Groth and drummer Mark Rice also perform as the up-and-coming Coke Dares.
Thanks to this synthesis of players, Magnolia’s debut as a live entity with Trials and Errors made complete sense, albeit with a surprising influence.
"Black Sabbath was a band that had a few really well done bootleg live shows going around – the shows especially right after they finished Paranoid and Vol. 4 were some of my favourites, even if they weren’t officially put out there," says Molina.
"Most of our shows, especially the larger cities, are being taped and have been for years. The live record we put out is totally unedited, mixed right there during the recording. It was a show that many fans were actively trying to find and it’s a good introduction to Magnolia."
That introduction was followed up a scant months later by What Comes After the Blues, Magnolia’s studio full-length. With 2005 not even half over, these two releases show Molina’s commitment to the newly formed Magnolia Electric Co. He’s so dedicated, in fact, that several of his Songs: Ohia projects (including both a volume of the Konkurrent label’s wondrous In The Fishtank series, and a long-rumoured Philly-soul-infused session featuring horn sections and female backing singers) have been shelved in favour of focusing on this new incarnation.
"There’s some really interesting things that came out of those sessions, but nothing that sits easily in the context of other recordings. I don’t know if they’ll come out or not – I’m too busy writing new songs for Magnolia to even start worrying about all of the orphan songs." Already announced for 2005, a 10-inch EP recorded with Paul Mahern, featuring a "kind of soul 45 sound," and another year’s worth of life on tour.
Recently uprooted from his Chicago home (a move mourned on What Becomes of the Blues’s elegiac horn-driven centrepiece, "Leave The City"), Molina’s music will continue to evolve as his surroundings change albeit now with a constant group of fellow travellers at his side. As he puts it, "It killed me to have to leave Chicago. I simply couldn’t afford to be in a full-time touring band and be there. The old cliché of highways being the home of musicians has played out to some degree with me over the last 10 years." |
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