MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC Co 'Josephie' LP

JOSEPHINE is the first proper Magnolia Electric Co. album since 2006's FADING TRAILS. Main songwriter Jason Molina is accompanied by a fairly large ensemble, though the palette of instruments still centers around piano, guitars, drums, dobro, and lapsteel. The music is strictly alternative country-inflected rock, and the arrangements are standard. That said, there is a great comfort in Molina's limited approach to making music. Standouts on this set include the gorgeous title track, with its Neil Young meets old-time parlor music feel and its dynamite lyrics, to the mournful "Shenandoah" with its sweet meld of steel and electric guitars, to the snarling opening to the spooky "The Handing Down." In sum, JOSEPHINE is radically different from Magnolia Electric Co.'s preceding records, but it doesn't need to be. Molina has a consistent, even if downcast, view of the world in his songs, and the canvas he uses to express it does so perfectly.

1. O! GRACE
2. THE ROCK OF AGES
3. JOSEPHINE
4. SHENANDOAH
5. WHIP-POOR-WILL
6. SONF FOR WILLIE
7. HOPE DIES LAST
8. THE HANDING DOWN
9. MAP OF THE FALLING SKY
10. LITTLE SAD EYES
11. HEARTBREAK AT TEN PACES
12. KNOXVILLE GIRL
13. SHILOH
14. AN ARROW