Josephine, Magnolia Electric Company’s latest album, came out today. And for me

Published 7:00 am Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Josephine, Magnolia Electric Company’s latest album, came out today. And for me and everyone else who’s been slowly going bats in the three years since Magnolia Electric Company put out a proper full-length, listening to this album for the first time felt like a spiritual experience. And yet, Jason Molina is a prolific songwriter with (at least, if what he said in his latest Pitchfork interview is true) a lot of unreleased material just lying around, including another whole album’s worth of songs cut from Josephine. Hopefully, he won’t sit on those songs for another three years, but at least now we’ve got some new Molina to put in our ears. And though I’ve only listened to it all the way through once so far, I can say this:While Jason Molina’s songs often smack of longing and lonesomeness, the mood of this record is particularly melancholic, not just because the lyrics are wistful and sometimes sad — though they are — but because of the church organ and blues guitar accents that pervade the album, as well. The album has its stagnant moments, but songs like “Shenandoah,” “Whip-poor-will” and “Little Sad Eyes,” which you can download for free are poignant examples of Molina’s ability to write powerful, emotive songs without ever seeming maudlin or contrived. It’s a gem of a record of the quality I expect from a seasoned songwriter like Molina, and after hearing this, I’m even more excited for his show at the Croc on August 1 than I was before. And if you read my earlier blog posts about this guy, that’s really saying something. He doesn’t come around often, and since he lives in London now, we can all expect his infrequent West Coast stops to become, well, even less frequent. Mark your calendars.