Misery loves company…Maybe not a phrase that would sit comfortably next to an album recommendation, but hear us out.
Magnolia Electric Co. (2003) is the seventh studio album by Songs:Ohia, a longtime project of prolific Ohioan songwriter Jason Molina. It is the last time Molina would record as Songs:Ohia, instead going on to use Magnolia Electric Co. as the band name he operated under until his untimely death in 2013, at the age of 39. The fact the name stuck from this record onwards seems to suggest it was pretty formative for Molina, and listening to it feels like a coalescence of an artist's years of work into something truly special.
Sitting under the too-wide banner of Americana, this record would sit well next to early-career The Deep Dark Woods, 70s era Neil Young or Bill Callahan’s Apocalypse in atmosphere, style and delivery. Under the expert production of Steve Albini (In Utero, Surfer Rosa), Alt-Country, Roots, Blues, Folk and Rock all weave seamlessly into each other, giving a varied, dynamic, spacious set of tracks that complement each other perfectly.
