What Comes After the Blues
Here's what's confusing: Jason Molina, main guy behind Magnolia Electric Co., was, in a previous incarnation, Songs: Ohia, which put out the widely praised 2003 discMagnolia Electric Co .Regardless of what handle he's recording under, though—and there have been many—Molina's sound maintains a certain earthy, tumbleweeds-and-troubled-times integrity that doesn't appear to be winding its way toward beach blankets and sunny skies. OnWhat Comes After the Blues,as on other efforts, there is a certain Neil Youngishness to the music that can't be ignored (dig into reading material on Molina and you quickly get the sense he'd prefer that it be ignored). But that's to its advantage. Where the late-90s indie rock brigade bulldozed their own mud-caked interpretations ofHarvest-era folk into the ground, opening the door for the resurgence of retooled 80s pop, Molina's rotgut-steeped rock betrays a haunting!  authenticity that won't soon lose its flavor. The gratifying opening guitar storm of first track "The Dark Don't Hide It," in fact, could fuel a real-rock turnabout on its own.--Tammy La Gorce