Public Servant Lifestyle

Former Songs: Ohia front man Jason Molina presents tunes reminiscent of the sounds made by Palace Brothers and SMOG, via West Africa, from Secretly Canadian.

Pyramid Electric Co. by Jason Molina

Former Songs: Ohia front man Jason Molina strolls through a gentle, laconic collection of tunes reminiscent of the sounds made by Will Oldham, Palace Brothers and Smog.

This is a record of lullabies for adults - an album to lull them to a place they remember only at the quietest of moments. The guitar is a slow dance where melody and rhythm take each other by the hand. Remember the first time you heard the Rolling Stones' track Gimme Shelter? Well Pyramid Electric Co. is Gimme Shelter slowed down to 16 RPM.

In a style vaguely reminiscent of Bill Callahan (of SMOG fame), or of the ‘Palace’ or Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy projects of Will Oldham – as well as his own branded tracks – Molina takes a definite laid back approach when it comes to his vocal style.

Jason Molina captures the same epic struggle in tone and weight. Most of the album it's just Molina in a room with a guitar, except on one tune he's at the piano; he is Nina Simone and he is singing his guts out.

Songs: Ohia

Although the Songs: Ohia front-man is all alone on this album (the first under his birth name), this is by no means a sparse recording, as he is surrounded on all sides by ghosts and an otherworldly sonic ambience. Molina has engineer Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, The Faint, Racebannon) to thank for that, for making this a well-populated album of one. After having worked together on Songs: Ohia's Ghost Tropic record, it seems a natural fit.

Molina slept in the studio, writing late into the night, then Mogis would arrive in the morning and document the tunes written the night prior. Yes, this loner is singing in a room as though no one will ever hear him, as though he's entombed for eternity. Or perhaps it's just that he was trapped in the flatlands of Nebraska for one especially lonely winter season.

Molina's low-pitched vocal stlings occassionally resemble those of West African singer Ali Farka Toure and the entire set of songs seems to borrow quite heavily from African musical tradition – in a way not unlike the borrowing of overlapping melody lines on Talking Heads’ final studio LP Naked, in 1987.

Guitars shuffle back and forth across the tracks like pulses – and at the heart of each track - melody. There's a timeless cadence to this song and you're not quite sure how old you are anymore. It slips every now and again, like an old goat up the hillside, but it always catches itself.

The full track list for the Pyramid Electric Co LP looks like this:

1. Pyramid Electric Co.
2. Red Comet Dust
3. Division Street Girl
4. Honey, Watch Your Ass
5. Song of the Road
6. Spectral Alphabet
7. Long Desert Train

Pyramid Electric Co is available now, on vinyl only – but those without turntables should note that the original batch includes a free CD of the album too - from Secretly Canadian.

PSP Ltd is not responsible for the contents of external website.

More information available in Music