Magnolia Electric Co by Songs: Ohia

Magnolia Electric Co. caught my eye on albumoftheyear not only for its high rating and surreal cover, but, from the genre tags, the promise of an "alt country" project. I don't think that it's very often that I choose a random high rated album on albumoftheyear, but this was a special case I guess; I listened to this album with two other people in this little "album listening club" that has appeared recently in my life. It's just two other people but it's nice to have a reason to listen to more new music. This album is our second selection and it was chosen only partly to be more palpatable than the previous album that was chosen (which was SOPHIE's OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES, also a great album that I might write about in a future review) which did not resonate very much with one of the people in our group.


Only just a minute into Magnolia Electric Co.'s first track, Farewell Transmission, the first track on the album, I knew I was really going to enjoy the rest of the listen. Which really was surprising, the promise of "alt country" intrigued me but only because of the first half of that promise, I generally have a disdain for anything "country". I think that when listening "outside of your comfort zone" it is very difficult to immediately catch on and start liking something. I like to think that I'm open minded with music, I am under the assumption that most music is actually great, and that to enjoy most music, you just need a change in mindset in order to really "get it". Obviously the first step to be able to enjoy a new album or genre is an open mind, which I definitely had going in, but I was still surprised just how amazing I thought the first song was. Some of my favorite albums and artists I really didn't enjoy on a first listen (namely the latter half of Geese's 3D Country). New music usually has something different that may feel offputting at first that takes time for me to grapple with. Sometimes I realize I'm listening to music for the the "wrong reason", and just need to change my entire approach of how I'm listening to the album. You can't dance to an ambient album. That's a lie you can probably do that ... but I think you get my point. While I feel I have very little experience with "alt country" nothing really surprised me. But in a good way. I think it was really easy for me to just get it because of how it doesn't do anything crazy or different from other albums that I've enjoyed. Jason Molina (also known as Songs: Ohia) has a perfect voice that isn't too over the top. While I don't usually focus on lyrical content on my first time listening to an album, some lines definitely stuck out to me, "Mama here comes midnight, with the dead moon in its jaws" was a line that had me listening a little closer. He has a very folk-esque poetic lyrical style that I am a sucker for. The actual production I suppose was simple, with guitar the star instrument, but it was done masterfully and in a way that definitely served to just tie everything together. Steve Albini produced this album which I guess is a fun fact but it just adds to why this album was just so amazing to me off the bat, with Albini producing a ton of other albums that I've grown to love. Including but not limited to Surfer Rosa, (some songs on) Tweez, some Oxbow albums and obviously In Utero.


I want to get more into the actual album here but I want to refrain from doing an entire track by track analysis. So I'll just say the entire album is just amazing. All the way through. The one song that caught me off guard, but in a bad way, was The Old Black Hen featuring Lawrence Peters as a main vocalist. He just has a very stereotypically country voice, which isn't that bad I guess, but Molina's voice just has the perfect raw quality to it that just fits this album so well, so it's a crime for him to not be singing. The other feature is on the song right afterward, Peoria Lunch Box Blues, in which Scout Niblett takes the lead as main vocalist. She has a much more fitting voice, or I guess just a more palpatable voice than Lawrence Peters, at least for my own tastes. Besides the two songs I mentioned here, I can't really think of any other faults I would want to bring up in regards to this album. While I don't fully know the intricacies behind every lyric on every song on the album, I can definitely feel the sense of dread that this album invokes.


Listen to this album. That's it. It's a project that I'm finding difficult to say anything about, it didn't change my life, or do anything too crazy. But it was just done so well, an incredible display of artistic prowess and raw human talent. Listen to this album.