Music / Songs: Ohia

Mama, here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws
Must be the big star about to fall
Long dark blues...

—"Farewell Transmission"

Jason Molina (December 30, 1973 - March 16, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter from Oberlin, Ohio. In the late 90s, he began releasing and performing music as Songs:Ohia alongside a rotating cast of other musicians. He gained further prominence in the indie scene after 2003 with a new band, Magnolia Electric Co., named after the final album under the Songs:Ohia name—later considered to be the first Magnolia Electric Co. album. He released a total of sixteen studio albums over the course of his career, and his music is considered Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, Alternative Country, Singer-Songwriter, and Slowcore.

Molina died of organ failure due to alcoholism in 2013, at age 39. A Biography about his life, Jason Molina: Riding With The Ghost was written by Erin Osmon in 2017.

Discography

As Songs:Ohia

• Albums
  • Songs:Ohia (1997)
  • Impala (1998)
  • Axcess & Ace (1999)
  • The Lioness (2000)
  • Ghost Tropic (2000)
  • Didn't It Rain (2003)
  • The Magnolia Electric Co. (2003)
• EPs
  • Hecla & Griper (1997)
  • Our Golden Ratio (1998)
  • Howler (2001)
  • Travels In Constants (2001)
• Live Albums
  • Mi Sei Come Un Fantasma (2001)
  • Live At WOBC Oct 12. 1994 (2017)
  • Live: Vanquishers (2022)
• Tour-only releases
  • The Ghost (1999)
  • Protection Spells (2000)
• Compliations
  • Journey On: Collected Singles (2014)

As Magnolia Electric Co.

• EPs
  • Hard To Love a Man (2005)
  • It's Made Me Cry (2009)
• Albums
  • What Comes After The Blues (2005)
  • Fading Trails (2006)
  • Josephine (2009)
• Live Albums / Compilations
  • Trials & Errors (live album, 2005)
  • Sojourner (compilation, 2007)

As Jason Molina

• Pyramid Electric Co. (2004)
• Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go (2006)
• Autumn Bird Songs (EP, 2012)
• Live at La Chapelle (live album, 2020)
• Eight Gates (2020)

Tropes:

• Alliterative Title: Axcess & Ace.
• Animal Motif:
  • Lots of birds across his entire discography. There's birds on the covers of the self-titled and The Magnolia Electric Co. and the songs "Owl & Raven," "Alone With the Owl," "The Black Crow," "Blue Jay," and "Blackbird" are all titled after birds. Bird metaphors and imagery appear all over his lyrics, such as in "Farewell Transmission."
  I'll smear his blood across my beak
  Dust my feathers in his ash
  • Women are compared to dangerous felines on "Tigress" and "Lioness."
• Answer Song: "KnoXVIIIe Girl," in reference to the Murder Ballad "Knoxville Girl" by the Louvin Brothers, about a man who murders his girlfriend for seemingly no reason. In Molina's song, he encounters her ghost.
• Black Eyes of Evil: On "Coxcomb Red:"
  Your hair is coxcomb red
  Your eyes are viper black
• Break Up Song: "Goodnight Lover."
• Broken Record: "Get Out Get Out Get Out" and "Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go."
• Call-Back: "John Henry Split My Heart" repeats lyrics heard on "Farewell Transmission."
• Celebrity Song:
  • "Steve Albini's Blues." Albini produced most of The Magnolia Electric Co..
  • "Song For Willie," referring to Willie Nelson.
• Destructive Romance: The central theme of The Lioness which has most of its songs written about beautiful but cruel women. From the Title Track:
  Whether you save me, whether you savage me
  Want my last look to be the moon in your eyes
  Want my heart to break if it must break in your jaws
  Want you to lick my blood off your paws
• Epic Rocking: Has many of these, some reaching near ten minutes.
• Evil Redhead: The subject of "Coxcomb Red."
• Intercourse with You: "Nervous Bride," which appears to be about having sex with a woman who is much more experienced than him.
• Lonely Piano Piece: "The Old Horizon."
• Miniscule Rocking: "Just a Spark" is just over two minutes, and only one verse.
• One-Woman Song: "Hold On Magnolia," "O! Grace," "Josephine," and "Shiloh." The box-set Sojourner is titled after a woman's name, but no song with the name appears on the album.
• Sarcastic Title: More of a purposefully ironic metaphor on "Nervous Bride," where Molina compares himself to a virgin bride on a song about casual sex.
• Self-Referential Track Placement: Subverted for "Farewell Transmission" which is the first song on The Magnolia Electric Co..
• Self-Titled Album: Also called The Black Album, not to be confused with a different black album.
• Shout-Out: Didn't It Rain is one to the song of the same name by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a blues singer from the 40s and 50s, credited with being proto-rock music.
• Singer Namedrop: "Cross the Road, Molina," though it's never said in song.
• Textless Album Cover: Axcess & Ace and The Magnolia Electric Co..
• Three Chords and the Truth / Minimalism: His compositions are not complicated or flashy, and many of his songs feature just guitar and voice with no other instrumentation.
• Updated Re Release: Several deluxe editions have been released over the years featuring bonus tracks and demos, as well as a few compilations.

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