Magnolia Electric Co. | Sojourner (Vinyl Box-Set 2023)

Returning from a long time out-of-print and for the first time on vinyl, Secretly Canadian release Sojourner Box Set by Magnolia Electric Co., re-presented via a 4LP collection (April 7).
The Box Set is the accumulated work of thirteen musicians, five locations, four recording engineers and one songwriter, with the four LPs that comprise the set taken from four distinct recording sessions that Magnolia Electric Co. undertook following the release of their debut studio album, What Comes After the Blues.
From those recording sessions, the band’s second album Fading Trails was born. But the four sessions, in full, chart the celestial map of Magnolia Electric Co….

Magnolia Electric Co.:
Sojourner (Vinyl Box-Set Reissue)

…its constellations and shooting stars, its Americana stompers and lean folk dirges. And, of course the center of gravity that is Jason Molina’s mournful, incomparable voice.
The session known as “Nashville Moon” was recorded by Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studios in Chicago, Illinois. The session known as “Sun Session” was recorded at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The session known as “Black Ram” was recorded by David Lowery at his Sound Of Music studios in Richmond, Virginia and features an entirely different cast of characters including Lowery, Rick Alverson, Andrew Bird, Molly Blackbird, Miguel Urbiztondo and Alan Weatherhead. The session known as “Shohola” was recorded by Jason Molina alone, with a guitar and microphone.
With LP covers drawn from original box illustrations and with the original box’s poster included, this LP edition of The Sojourner Box Set delivers for the most ambitious and robust Magnolia Electric Co. release to date. Secretly Canadian

Sojourner is a four-disc box set of outtakes from the recording sessions for 2006’s Fading Trails. It’s essentially three albums and an EP, which makes it that much more unbelievable that there’s not a bunk note in the batch. Many musicians spend their entire careers trying to write one song as solid as one of Molina’s afterthoughts.
Each disc of Sojourner is essentially its own album – Nashville Moon, Black Ram, Sun Session and Shohola. Of the four, Nashville Moon feels the sturdiest and most substantial, the most like a fully fleshed-out album – and a damn good one at that. With its tasteful pedal steel flourishes, Hammond B-3 and Fender Rhodes stabs fleshing out Molina’s guitars and warm, worn vocals, it has more in common with his obvious heroes than any of his cuddly contemporaries. Its downbeat, downcast glower brings to mind bummer Neil Young while the keys and organs recall early albums by the Band or ’70s-era Bob Dylan. Even so, Nashville Moon is even more lonesome and existential than On the Beach or Blood on the Tracks, with haunted lyrics more in keeping with T. S. Eliot than Woody Guthrie, like album opener “Lonesome Valley” with its ghosts wearing feathered crowns and its handfuls of dust. Spectrum Culture

Vinyl:

Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Secretly Canadian
Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2023
Label ‏ : ‎ Secretly Canadian
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BW2GWFR1
Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 4