I'm ever-increasingly pleased that I was introduced to Magnolia Electric Co. when I was; they could have very easily passed me by and I would live the rest of my life having never seen Jason Molina play live. His music is the gift that keeps on giving and we should all count ourselves lucky that he wrote quite so many songs in his too-short life.
On a slightly-hungover morning on the 6th of September 2009 I was woken by a phone call from my friend Jon. There was a folk festival happening in Porthcawl Pavilion that day but it had massively undersold so the organisers were basically handing out tickets to people who they knew just to help fill up the room. Jon knew one of the organisers and was getting together a car-load of people. Three things made me go: I had nothing else to do that day; Adem was playing (who was pretty much the only name I knew on the bill) and I'd been enjoying his covers album, Takes; and finally, because I was leaving Cardiff soon to move to London so thought it'd be nice to spend the day on the beach with some of the friends I'd made there.
So I met up with Jon, Stubbs and another friend of Jon's and we drove to Porthcawl (which I'd never been to before). The Pavilion was a lovely setting for the bands playing that day - they'd laid out tables like a 1900's ballroom and there was a huge chandelier hanging overhead. We watched some nice bands (including Aidan Moffat and Adem) and had ice cream on the beach (which seemed particularly odd given that these were guys I'd gotten to know by going to sweaty punk shows). Magnolia Electric Co. were second to last that day and Stubbs was very excited; I remember him passionately telling me about the singer's old band Songs:Ohia and how the bands had transitioned with an album called Magnolia Electric Co. You know when someone is that excited about seeing a band that it'll be at least half decent.
Magnolia Electric Co. blew me away that day. I have three main memories of their set: a general feeling of amazement; Jason's incredible voice; and the drums. I can't imagine many people think of drums when they think of Magnolia Electric Co., but that day they sounded so incredible and were being pounded, all the while set to these beautiful songs. Maybe it was the acoustics of the room, but it worked for me. Map of the Fallen Skies on Josephine has some pretty heavy drums and always reminds me of that day. I have no idea whether they played it (or the names of any of the songs I heard that day) but it always makes me think back to that day late-summer Sunday in Porthcawl. I doubt Jon knows how grateful I am that he called me that morning and paved the way for me to discover Molina's music. I should probably say something to him.
After Magnolia finished we all sat there a little bewildered and agreed that they were incredible. Vetiver were still due to play, but we decided that nothing was going to top the last band and went home. I set about hearing more Magnolia Electric Co. and got Josephine on cd from my sister for my birthday that year. I knew from the opening minutes of O! Grace that I hadn't misremembered how good they were. Six years later and I'm still digging through the huge number of albums Jason Molina recorded and each one is incredible - I get so excited when I find another album of his because I can't wait to hear the music within. It's not been entirely trivial to find all his albums (Truck Records and a few trips to the states have helped) but I'm enjoying the cadence at which I get to hear them.
I discovered shortly afterwards that two of my friends had become huge Jason Molina fans (after seeing him on the same tour but at End of the Road Festival) and we were all equally excited when it was announced that he'd be playing a show in The Railway Inn in Winchester with Will Johnson from Centromatic. Just to spell that out entirely, The Railway was the only venue we had growing up, where most of our friends had played, where we had our first drinks and where Friday nights would frequently end up. Very rarely did anyone famous ever play The Railway so we all decided it was well-worth the trip back home. On top of that, I was really keen to see Will Johnson having first heard him on a split with another of my favourite bands, The Paper Chase.
But Jason got ill and the tour got cancelled. Gradually over the next couple of years it emerged he'd been an alcoholic and was in rehab. Things were starting to look promising but then he died on March 16th, 2013. My heart sank when I heard the news because I felt like I'd only just discovered his music; I wanted to see him play again so I could have the same feeling of amazement I'd had before and I wanted to know the songs he played so I could appreciate them even more. I still have the ticket from that Railway show that never happened. It's sad that he died so early, but I can take some comfort in knowing that he wrote a lot of great songs whilst he was here and that I can keep discovering them for years yet. Fittingly enough, Josephine ends with An Arrow in the Gale, a song that feels like an opener; his last album was to be my first and opened me up to a wealth of incredible music.
Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 14
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 08/01/15
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code
