Magnolia Electric Co - Josephine

Following on from the recent success of American Alt-country/New Folk artists such as Band of Horses and Bon Iver during recent years, Ohio based Jason Molina has been making contemporary music of this kind for the best part of 15. With his band Magnolia Electric Co, they release their third LP as a 4 piece. A concept album in memory of late bass player Evan Ferrell who was tragically killed in a fire accident in 2007, Molina expresses his deep loss with the title given under a different pseudonym. ‘Josephine’ gets going after the piano and horn led opener ‘O! Grace’ with the doo-wop influenced but punk-rock aesthetic of ‘The Rock of Ages‘. With its long build up and abrupt ending, closing the track in under 3 minutes, it invites the listener to imagine how the song could progress. We continue to feel Molina’s themes of loneliness in a more focused manner throughout the record, in tracks such as the title track, ‘Hope Dies Last’ and ‘Map of the Falling Sky’ which portray the emotion of tragedy in his lyrics. Musically Magnolia often creates an atmospheric mood with a multi layer of brass instruments, keyboards and banjos alongside the basic rhythm section, instead of a more stripped down attempt which one may feel would be more suitable to the lyrical nature of this recording. However, I feel ‘Josephine’s lack of direction lets it down. Clocking in at 46 minutes, these 14 tracks begins to feel tiresome approximately 2 thirds of the way through meaning its length prevents it from ever being a classic. Overall though, Steve Albini’s well polished production doesn’t make you forget the melancholy expressed in Molina’s performance of which ’Josephine’, may well be his strongest and most poignant song writing contribution of his many releases to date.