Magnolia Electric Co.
Josephine - Secretly Canadian
FILTER Grade: 88%

When Jason Molina sings “I’ve been as lonesome as the world’s first ghost” on “O! Grace,” the delicate opening anthem to Magnolia Electric Co.’s new album, it’s without brooding or resignation. Sparse but somehow inherently hopeful tunes about solitude and loss are his forte, and Josephine—a concept album that pays tribute to the band’s late touring-bassist Evan Farrell—is another act in refining that craft. Recorded with Steve Albini, Magnolia Electric Co.’s latest is predictably stripped down but adds new elements like horn sections and sax solos that show Molina can improvise on what he already does so well. Some songs—like “Heartbreak at Ten Paces,” a calm lament that seems to end just as it really hooks you, or “An Arrow in the Gale,” a brief, lilting call-to-action—are perfect little packages of desolation, whittled down to well under three minutes. Josephine isn’t a drastically different approach for Magnolia Electric Co., but it’s a lovely one that bears repeated listening, preferably at night while alone on the open road.