MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO.'s New "Josephine" Album, and Tour

        MUSIC NEWS - Secretly Canadian has given word on Magnolia Electric Co.'s new Josephine album (released July 21 in the US and July 20 in the UK).  It's the band's first full album since 2006 and they've revealed a summer tour (itinerary below) with The Donkeys (from San Diego).  Josephine is a weighty, mature album about  and dislocation, and brings forth a more minimalist aesthetic than the band has attempted so far. And, MNN has the title track, below, for you to check out!

For Josephine, the band teamed up again with engineer Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago, IL for what proved to be an emotional recording session. About halfway through Josephine, they report a noticeable shift in weight. A release of some kind, the kind that comes when you give up holding back the tears.  It's a heavy kind of freedom coming to the forefront, an empowering sadness. And when chief Electrician Jason Molina delivers the line "an hour glass... filled with tears and twilight from a friend's dying day," the mood becomes clear. The band is on its heels, yes, but they are going to fight back in the only way they know how.  Molina's concept album is an honest-to-God effort on

the part of Magnolia Electric Co to pay tribute to the life and spirit of fallen bassist Evan Farrell (R.I.P. December 2007). Molina has said each tune is a good faith attempt to make real Evan's hopes for the record. And in doing so, Evan's spirit becomes part of the concept. The loss of Josephine becomes the loss of Evan. Molina's familiar lyrical allegories are still in tact. But here, in what is no doubt the strongest set of songs Molina has written since the inception of Magnolia Electric Co., those classic themes take on new meanings. Molina has approached the universal loneliness before, but never in such a focused, directed manner as found on Josephine

Listen to Joesphine and see the band live.

MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. 2009 TOUR DATES-