Magnolia Electric Co.

by Michael Miller • July 23, 2009

Magnolia Electric Co.
Josephine
(Secretly Canadian, 2009)

A familiar theme: Band loses beloved member, records concept album in deceased's honor. In the case of Magnolia Electric Co., it's bassist Evan Farrell. May he rest in peace, but musically, his presence—though palpable in the sadness of the group's new album, Josephine—isn't so sorely missed. For one thing, there's Jason Molina's voice—one of the most powerful in contemporary music of any genre. It has the quiver of Rust Never Sleeps-era Neil Young with the strength of Gram Parsons on Sweetheart of the Rodeo. And when Molina sings, "I turned your life so upside down" on the title track, not only do you believe him, but you forgive him too.

Oh, and speaking of Sweetheart of the Rodeo…

From the opening piano chords of "O! Grace", there's no denying the influence of country rock's godfathers. "It is a long way between horizons and it gets further everyday" comes very close to the understated sadness of Gram Parsons. It's also a pretty bleak way to open an album, but Josephine is a pretty bleak album. "The Rock of Ages" brings you down even lower, with a tremolo guitar straight out of a David Lynch soundtrack and some of the most enigmatic, damning words this side of a William Blake poem:

This little lamb
Lays her heart
At the feet of the lion
A lion will not stand
O mercy
Amen

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Crawdaddy! was founded by Paul Williams in 1966 and was the first U.S. magazine of rock criticism. John Lennon, Cameron Crowe, P.J. O'Rourke and many others have contirubted to its pages, and it is currently owned by Wolfgang's Vault, home to the legendary rock promoter Bill Graham's archive.