MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO.
TRIALS & ERRORS (SECRETLY CANADIAN)
Recorded only a few months after they had formed, Trials & Errors captures Jason Molina'a new band Magnolia Electric Co on one magical night in Brussels in 2003.
It is a scintillating audio document of one of America's most important contemporary live acts evolving into something really special and doing what it does best _ whipping an audience into a frenzy.
This set captures Molina & Co right after Molina had retired the Songs: Ohia machine in favor of this powerful new vision of his.
Two years in the planning process, the new project took its name from the last Songs: Ohia full-length album.
Composed of a nucleus of four members, this particular show captures the newly christened band on its first tour in its earliest state.
Still a four-piece with Pete Schreiner providing the back beat drum pulse, Mike Kapinus on bass and melancholic trumpet, and the two Jason's dueling over guitar solo space: Molina's down-tuned guitar matching his now settled tenor voice, and Groth's Creedence-channeling rhythm guitar and solos filling out the upper register.
It's a joy to listen to them _ warts and all _ as they form their molten core. With Molina as the principal songwriter, the songs are as classic as Molina fans have come to expect over the course of seven Songs: Ohia full-lengths (all released between '96 and '03).