Customer Reviews

Sojourner (W/Dvd)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SOJOURNER is Magnolia Electric Company's best release since the final Songs Ohia / first Magnolia CD.

Some songs will be familiar to fans of the earlier albums, but there's lots of all-new material here, as well as some wonderful alternate versions of Magnolia 'classics'. The way all the tracks are organized (on four separate CDs, each representing a different recording session) helps to highlight the different moods and modes of the band, letting listeners enjoy the new songs for what they are, and hear favorite songs in an entirely new light.

What's more, there are numerous studio versions on the NASHVILLE MOON disc of tunes you've (until now) only been able to hear live, or in live versions. WHAT COMES AFTER THE BLUES (conspicuously absent from the album of the same name) is a standout favorite of mine, currently playing on obsessive repeat from every available audio output device within arm's reach. However, of the four CDs, BLACK RAM, with its dense sound and foreboding energy, really stands out as the superstar.

All in all, SOJOURNER is awesome, and I mean that both in the sense of its being awe-inspiring, and in the "Magnolia fan geek out" sense. If you've wanted to catch-up with Molina's work since Songs Ohia, this is a perfect crash course. For fans it's even more--filling in the blanks between former releases, and enhancing his band's considerable collective achievements.

The extensive Sojourner box set is very good (in-and-out/familiar at times.) I tend to like different MEC songs at different times of the day. The mood here swings wildly, something here always to connect to. This set has a lot to mull over.

Some of it feels like out-takes or discards. That is not a complaint as hearing musical process, for me, is always better than hearing over-produced material. Molina's revisiting songs previously heard on other albums is great.

What is terrific, however, is the short (20min) DVD accompanying the box set which captures the ambiance of road life well. This wonderfully shot (DP compositions are very evocative) and elliptical statement (things are hinted at, never really presented on the nose) about road life is really compelling and meditative. This film is a mood piece not unlike MEC's best songs. Having seen lots of 'road' docs and rockumentaries, this one is simple, unique and a real delight. What's great, also, is that Molina is presented as part of the fabric. The film stays away from focusing on 'hero-guitarist' to concentrate on mood-location and road-tone.

First, for the reviewer earlier who couldn't get a disc to play, one is a DVD, not a cd, is this the problem?
I'm a fan of interesting packaging of boxed sets and a fan of Magnolia Electric Co so this item was a double dip for me.
The box its self is quite well made, somewhat along the line of the Great Goodbye Babylon set from Dust-to-Digital a few years back.
The music is typical Magnolia fare, you either love it or leave it,maybe not as immediate as some of their other releases but a definite grower and keeper.
My only real gripe is with the inner disc packing, it would be nice to have the tracklisting on the cd paper cover rather than have to hunt through the box to find the relevant card.Not much to complain about really.

Jason Molina writes songs; that's essentially all he cares to let us know for certain about himself. Sure, your cousin Steve writes songs also, and that kid who used to live down the street from you has been in the local paper a few times for his songs, but those guys don't write the kinds of songs Jason "Hold On Magnolia" Molina does. Known for his short albums, short stature, short live shows and long list of typically lengthy songs, Molina has for a decade now been one of the most active and consistent songwriters on the planet, releasing no less than 12 official albums and seven EPs along the way under various monikers, including last year's Fading Trails.

While Fading Trails certainly kept the Crazy Horse torch burning in new ways, the album was far from perfect, unquestionably due to its design. In a classic case of working too hard, Molina recorded three albums (Nashville Moon, Black Ram, Shohola) and an EP's (Sun Session) worth of material over four separate, dissimilar recording sessions, coiling together from the sessions the nine-song tracklist now known as Fading Trails. Individually, most of the songs were great, but in the context of a long-player record, the album felt uneven and thus didn't offer the repeat value of his last few albums. Somewhere along the way, thankfully, Molina decided to release the four aforementioned sessions as individual albums; talk about returning to your gut in style.

After some Internet speculation Molina announced that he'd be releasing three albums, an EP and a 20-minute documentary film packaged together in a bulletproof wood box before the end of the year. Molina's label, Secretly Canadian, eventually announced that the box set, Sojourner, would also include not only a poster, postcard liner notes, a Magnolia Electric Co. medallion and a small bag of Neil Young's sideburn hair from the 70s, but also loads of indie street cred, as the label only planned to release 10,000 copies of the set.

Sojourner sold out faster than most folks could cash their paycheck, heat their debit card up, sign online and place an order; faster, even, than most publications could even get their reviews to the press. Meanwhile your cousin Steve sits, scratching his head, trying to figure out how one man originally from Commontown, USA (also known as Lorian, Ohio) can record 33 tracks and invent bulletproof wood in the span of 12 months. Molina, who is now based in Chicago (but still armed with his strange Ohio accent), is a rare find, and by that, I mean that he lives his life as much for his craft as one can. Rocker hair, rocker swagger, rocker groupies, rocker press and rocker lifestyle be damned, Molina is a lean, mean artist, and you hear it in each of Sojourner's long-pondered songs, all of which appear to be written from indeterminate perspectives, or possible from the viewpoint of a composite of Molina's peers. This element of Molina's writing seeps through more than ever through these four sessions, making for a mysterious, dark batch of material.

Recorded with Molina's touring band, Sun Session is an organically produced four-song EP recorded at Memphis' famous Sun Studios. The eerie "Talk To Me Devil, Again" starts things off on a dark, aching note as Molina sings "Devil unwind what's empty / Devil unwind my heart / Devil make the two ends meet / Devil when I fall / Talk to me Devil, again." Also included is a better-than-ever version of "Hold On Magnolia" (originally included on the final Songs: Ohia album), the longing "Memphis Moon" and the slow-burning, organ-based "Trouble In Mind," which is one of the best of the best in this particular wood box.

Completing Molina's trilogy of sparse, solo home recordings is the eight-track Shohola. More or less a blueprint of well written songs that never quite made it to the studio, Shohola is proof of Molina's tireless work ethic. While many songwriters ache and burn over each song, Molina literally has extras laying around.

Full of Molina's usual seemingly personal, always cryptic lyrics, the Steve Albini-produced Nashville Moon is not just Molina's best album yet, but easily one of the best albums of 2007. Twelve solid tracks long, Nashville kicks off with the excellent "Lonesome Valley," "Montgomery" and "Don't Fade On Me," all of which were on Fading Trails, before heading into a rocked-up version of "Hammer Down," which originally appeared on 2005's What Comes After the Blues. Next up is one of the box set's best moments, an upgraded version of "No Moon On the Water," which was originally available via a very limited edition 7" single. Never you mind the above "one of the best albums of 2007" declaration, Nashville Moon is the best album of 2007. It rocks and rumbles it's authentic sound with an amount of genuine soul, spirit and know-how that no one else in 2007 can rival.

Less straightforward than Nashville Moon but still true to Molina's everyman stride, Black Ram sits well with other Molina-released curiosities such as Ghost Tropic and Didn't It Rain, but easily twice as accessible. Featuring excellent production from David Lowery (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker), Black Ram features more fleshed-out compositions than any of the other discs, featuring the classical guitar work of Rick Alverson, the mellotron and pedal steel playing of Alan Weatherhead, Lowery on bass, the whistling of fellow Chiagoan Andrew Bird, the singing of Molly Blackbird and the percussion and harmonium work of Miguel Urbistondo. Though two of the tracks on Black Ram did appear on Fading Trails, the remaining material appears to be all new, including the amazing "What's Broken Becomes Better" and "Blackbird."

After just a couple of listens, much of the material on Sojourner feels just as warm and familiar as the two dozen Neil Young albums you've been listening to for years. Decades. If you're one of the fortunate 10,000 who nabbed a copy of this gem, you'll surely agree that it's one of the most essential purchases of 2007. If you missed out, something tells me Secretly Canadian will release at least a couple of these discs individually in due time, hopefully Nashville Moon and Black Ram, either of which demand album of the year consideration, depending on how you like your Americana.

It took me a while to shell out the dough for this box set just because I had picked up "Fading Trails" at one of their shows and noticed many of the songs from "Trails" were on the box set. I assumed "trails" was kind of like a "best of" and feared that some of the others tunes might just be filler. I was wrong. This box set is awesome and the songs flow perfectly in this format. I can listen to it back to back or in pieces , each disk has it's own unique sound and vibe. The DVD is cool too, a glimpse into the world of a touring indie rock band.

Arrived on time. It was a gift, but I assume they enjoy it since they asked for it.

NPR featured this box set and I had to investigate after hearing the glowing reviews.

I just can't say anything more than this: WOW!

Buy it!!!

I think I would be giving a 4 or 5 star rating IF all of the CDS in the boxset actually would play. One of them just won't play and I have tried 3 different CD players (home system and two car systems). That is disappointing!

Given the size of this collection and the "critic's darling" hype sourrounding it, I had hoped for something with the same breadth and ambition as, say, the Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs," but it just seems to be a whole lot of the same thing.

So if you like vaguely indie-country songs that are all the same mid-slow tempo, sung in what I have to assume is a deliberately off-key voice, then you will get a lifetime supply if you buy this. On the positive side, the singer is very earnest and there are some pretty good lyrics. Really, any ONE or TWO of these songs are fine.

But If you want a little variety in your "alt-country," I suggest you try "Cassedega" by Bright Eyes for starters.