Josephine

Magnolia Electric Co.

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 21, 2009)
• Original Release Date: July 21, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Secretly Canadian
• ASIN: B002ANHMCE
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,362 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Everytime it rains, I hear the city calling my name. . .", July 24, 2009

By	Leif Sheppard - See all my reviews

First of all, let's get something out of way: I despise the term "alt-country". Music fans are forced to use this term because, were we to listen to the radio, we would think country music is all about redneck women, copious amounts of liquor, and endless romantic melodramas. Because of these criminally insipid practices, so-called "alt-country" has become the purest distillation of what country music should be. It's a genre inhabited by such (often unsung) luminaries as Dolorean, Neko Case, The Low Anthem, Lucinda Williams, Son Volt, Ryan Adams, Bill Callahan, and Pinetop Seven. Yet the radio shoves tripe like Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney down our throats and assures us that it's "country" music. No thanks.

Still, despite my predilection towards "alt-country", I was never quite a fan of Jason Molina until a few years ago. Though he recorded under Songs:Ohia for well over half a decade, there were only a handful of tracks I latched on to over the years. It wasn't until 2003's "Magnolia Electric Co." that I became firmly impressed with his work and a new fan to boot. It certainly wasn't a radical stylistic change, even though new musicians were brought in to accompany Molina. It was akin to when Mark Kozelek changed Red House Painters to Sun Kil Moon. Hardly a thing was altered, yet somehow they still seem like entirely separate entities.

Prolific songmaster Molina, now recording under the moniker Magnolia Electric Co. for the past five albums, has returned with what is perhaps his masterwork: "Josephine". Though it's been three years since his last proper full-length in 2006, the next year saw the release of the epic box set "Sojourner" and (aside from that) Molina has been predictably quite busy elsewhere. According to an interview with music megasite Pitckfork, Molina estimates he's recorded an incredible six albums worth of material, but has to stagger the releases "or else you'll have a Bob Pollard situation where I can't even afford to keep up with the guy."

Early press releases have labeled this record as a sort of loose concept album about death and loss (particularly in light of the tragic demise of touring bassist Evan Farrell, who perished in a house fire in December 2007). Though that's an accurate manner in which to describe the songs here, I've found that pigeonhole terms like "concept album" tend to unfairly peg records as potentially pretentious and overtly weighty to listen to. With that in mind, it's a testament to the talents of Molina and crew that "Josephine" sounds as lush as any previous record, and even with the loneliness and anguish present there's still the lingering feeling of hope intertwined with it all.

Beginning with the surprisingly ebullient "O! Grace" (which features a great sax solo) the record quickly descends into darker territory with tracks like "Shenandoah" and "Whip Poor Will". The first single, "Josephine", is absolutely wonderful and one of the definite highlights. I probably hardly need tell, however, that the album as a whole is excellent and well worth the purchase. But don't take a reviewers word for it, check out the samples here, the work speaks for itself! "Josephine" is released on one of my favorite labels - Secretly Canadian, home to other supremely talented artists such as Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala and Foreign Born Person To Person. Tons of free promo tracks, including the first single for this record, can be found at their website.