Magnolia Electric Co.
Date: March 26, 2006 Human Hearts and Pain Although Magnolia Electric Co. would have been hard pressed to find an opening act as audacious as Grand Buffet, with whom they toured last fall, they reeled in another notable act for this spring's jaunt, Destroyer. All told, it was enough to justify a trip to Montreal for what proved to be another triumphant show. The night began somewhat behind schedule with Nedelle, who performed solo on the acoustic guitar. While her lyrics sometimes ventured into territory too cute for my tastes, she displayed some decent playing and clever wordplay. Despite being under the weather, she offered a respectable six-song set, taking assistance from a tourmate on only one tune. The buzz in the crowd for Destroyer equaled that earned by most headlining acts. In fact, their set had the feel of a headlining performance, even concluding with an encore. The most immediately notable aspect of Destroyer was the sheer volume and depth of their sound. When the full band would kick in together, they produced a glorious barrage of noise that was fun to take in, even if it did drown out Dan Bejar's vocals in the early portion of the show. It was also enjoyable to watch the interactions of the talented band, who were obviously relishing their time on stage. Unfortunately, the one flaw dragging the set down was pacing. The delay between Nedelle and Destroyer was excessive, especially since their was no equipment to change. More significantly, the band often had lengthy pauses between songs, with little crowd interaction. Although their set could have been stronger with a more continuous effort, the strong playing and a few stand-out moments still added up to a solid result. In contrast to Destroyer, Magnolia Electric Co. is a decidedly workmanlike outfit, tearing through the equipment change-over as soon as Destroyer wrapped up a one-song encore, and proceeding to lay down their music with little fuss. Singer Jason Molina simply asked "Hammer Down?" by way of introduction before leaping into the song of the same name. As with the last time that I saw the band at La Sala Rossa, Molina had problems with his monitors but the distraction seemed to not hamper the show. Having seen the band twice in the past year and a half and having perused a few online show offerings, I have come to recognize some of the unreleased songs that pepper the group's setlists. As a result, "No Moon On the Water" was as welcome an inclusion as "Dark Don't Hide It," with both sounding great. Of course, it still wasn't long before the group veered into unknown territory with a song noted on the setlist as "Devil." As I have noticed in past shows, the setlist scrawled on a piece of paper was not played linearly, although there seemed to be some game plan. Guitarist Jason Groth dictated when "Devil" was played; and he and Molina put their heads together a few times to determine the next direction. Unlike the lengthy rests undercutting Destroyer's set, though, Magnolia Electric Co. seemed to pause only long enough to settle on a song and give the hard-living contingent of the band time to light up or take a drink. In addition to Groth's chain-smoking, Mike Kapinas managed to puff away between the trumpet bursts of "Leave the City" and later had someone reach from backstage to offer a light while he was busy on keyboard duties. While those were the closest players from my position at the front of the floor, drummer Mark Rice was also interesting to watch. Pete Schreiner, as usual, made his presence felt on the bass while keeping out of the spotlight. The band was without steel guitar on this tour; but the five-piece configuration made every song a rollicking treat. Jason Groth, in particular, is a blast to take in, twitching and shaking with his eyes closed through one wild lead guitar burst after another. The set contained other unrecorded but established songs, such as "Down the Wrong Road Both Ways," "Montgomery Bound," "Lonesome Valley," "What Comes After the Blues," and "Texas 71," as well as another song that was new to me, "Memphis." Album tracks making the cut on this night included the melancholy "North Star," "Don't This Look Like The Dark," and "Bowery." While Molina continues to avoid older material recorded under the Songs:Ohia banner, he did reach to the Magnolia Electric Co. LP for "Just Be Simple" and the set-closer, a perfectly ragged version of "I've Been Riding With the Ghost." With the band firing at full frenzy and Molina locking into his vocals for an entrancing ombination, that song captured everything that I love about live music. In typical Magnolia Electric Co. fashion, they wrapped up with no encore, maintaining the no-nonsense, ass kicking approach that they displayed all night. Paired with a lengthy and fun showcase from Destroyer, this was a fantastic night of music. Magnolia Electric Co. setlist 
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