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Album Details

• Artist: Magnolia Electric Co.
• Album: What Comes After The Blues
• Label: Secretly Canadian
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-07-11

I think Magnolia Electric Co. have come up with the most depressing album title in recent years. Magnolia Electric Co. is Jason Molina's next chapter after Songs: Ohia, named after the last Songs album. What Comes After The Blues is a shot a creating one of the best Neil Young albums that he never recorded. It may not be readily apparent until the third track "Leave The City", a beautiful aching song that even encompasses a trumpet line throughout, provided by Okkervil River's Mike Kapinus. The album opens with "The Dark Don't Hide It", one of the album more upbeat tracks and a nice way to usher you into the world of Magnolia. "The Night Shift Lullaby" introduces us to a beautiful female voice, one of Jennie Benford of Jim and Jennie & the Pinetops fame, taking the lead on this track. Jennie shows up quite a bit throughout the rest of the album playing Emmylou to Molina's Parson's. Have a listen to "Northstar Blues" and you can start to understand the title of the album. It is a dark and forlorn song that just oozes pain. But the best track comes with "Hammer Down", the best thing that Molina has penned yet, sounding close to something from Jay Farrar might have wrote. Jason's voice has grown significantly with this band as well. You can notice quite a more focus on his vocals than his previous outfit. What Comes After The Blues is a fine rootsy rock album that his old fans will enjoy and many new fans should easily latch onto. Even Will Oldham fans should stop by and check in.

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