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31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Let's Get Drunk and Brood, February 7, 2004
If you've read my previous reviews, you're probably familliar with my method of buying albums: wandering around Amoeba records for hours, then deciding on some random album because it has a really neat cover (and if I'm feeling especially critical - cool song titles). This has resulted in a few poor choices, which I'll leave to your imagination, but also some gold nuggets, and this record is one.I should point out that I'm a big fan of nocturnal, atmospheric music with a distinctly rural-american tinge, and that pretty well describes this album. My knee-jerk classification (if that kind of thing matters to you) would be to say alt-country, but lumping Songs: Ohia in with the like of Whiskeytown and Son Volt doesn't quite gel, especially given the strong blues influence throughout. To dive into more specific analysis, let's break down the record into its components. The voices jump out immediately. Jason Molina leads the pack, singing lead on three quarters of the albums eight tracks. He channels Neil Young to an extent; they share the same kind of drawling intensity, but whatever comparison you want to make, the sound is still a remarkably pleasant one. The voices on the remaining two tracks are a mixed bag. The male vocal on 'The Old Black Hen' (I THINK this is Lawrence Peters, based on the breif liner notes, but I'm not positive) pours it on a little thick for my taste, but bigger fans of a classic country (definitely an applicable term on this track) might dig it more than I do. Scout Niblett's vocals on 'Peoria Lunch Box Blues' on the other hand, steal the spotlight. Her turn here is a slow, blues drenched number with a subtle melody sung in a smoky vocal, not unlike Cat Power's Chan Marshall, but in a higher register and with a bit more force and confidence than Chan usually puts forth. It's positively mellifluous (I've been looking for an excuse to use that word all week). The sonic canvas over which all of this occurrs is comprised of twanging electric guitars, (the kind where you'd expect to see a lit cigarette placed in the head), madolins, lapsteels, organs, and thrumming basses. 'John Henry Split My Heart' is as forceful a rock number as you're likely to find in this kind of setting, with distortioned guitars churning over a pounding bass drum that connotates the intensity of the steel-drivin man - that is until it drops off into a piano solo only to build back up again. 'Just Be Simple' is a low tempo, relatively laid back, melancholy rumination. 'Farewell Transmission' opens the record with a clean guitar and builds up to a dramatic conclusion that ends with the command "listen!" 'Hold on Magnolia' on the other hand, is a slow ballad right out of a barroom in the old west that ends the record on it's sweetest moment. The lyrics are... well, they're there. They're not really the focus; no passages come to mind that are brilliant enough on paper to be really worth mentioning, but there aren't any cringe-worthy moments here either. Mostly they fit the tone and atmosphere of the music. And that's the biggest deliver about this album: it's atmosphere. Actually, given that, listening to this is probably bad for my health - it makes me want to smoke a few ciggys, drink some gin and wallow in the poetry of my own sadness for 45 minutes of a warm summer night. So if that sounds like your kind of thing, then you'll enjoy this, and even if not, it's still worth at least a listen. Four stars.
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~ Songs: Ohia
~ Songs: Ohia
~ Songs: Ohia
~ Jason Molina
~ Magnolia Electric Co.
by Songs: Ohia 
