Monday, September 5, 2011

Magnolia Electric Co and the live thunder

Magnolia Electric Co. is one of those bands that I love to death but I completely understand why others don't. There songs are dense with mood and sparse sonically. Lead by the haunting voice of Jason Molina who plays the wounded angle better than any other singer out there. He bleats the music in a smooth croon that evokes Sun Records era country.

In the Beginning MEC wore it's influences on it's sleeve and played satanic interpretations of the Neil Young & Crazy Horse method of tearing the roof off of clubs. There first official release, 'Trials and Errors' is a live album that shreds freely with out ever really bending down to rock staples. Many of the songs are formless, ambling along dangerously without a normal song structure (like verse-bridge-chorus) slowly mutating with the arhythmic permeation of Molina and lead guitarist Jason Groths intertwined guitar playing.

This is really an aquired taste. In the wrong mood, or with only half your attention diverted, MEC can sound kind of like a fat hog, lumbering drunkenly but they control this beast and when they pull on the reigns and let it whail the results are spine tingling.

The Last 3 Human Words is a perfect example. The lyrics themselves are worthy of a whole different post but the song has a very simple structure, based around returning to a heavy, pounding chorus after etheral interchanges between sparse guitar notes and a dark trumpet. Listen



Live. Real. Thunder.

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