Jason Molina.


Jason Andrew Molina (30/12/1973 –16/3/2013) 

 was an American musician and singer-songwriter. Raised in northern Ohio, he came to prominence performing and recording as Songs: Ohia, both in solo projects and with a rotating cast of musicians in the late 1990s. Beginning in 2003, he would garner a further indie following for his releases with the band Magnolia Electric Co.

Molina had a prolific career between his two musical projects and solo releases,  producing a total of sixteen studio albums, eight EPs, and numerous singles. His overall discography was noted by critics for blending elements of indie rock, blues, and alternative country with his tenor vocal range.

In 2009, Molina canceled a tour with Magnolia Electric Co., citing health problems as the reason. He would spend the next four years dealing with alcoholism, which ultimately resulted in his death from multiple organ failure in March 2013.

Molina was born December 30, 1973  in Oberlin, Ohio.  His father was a middle school teacher. He had one brother, Aaron, and one sister, Ashley.  Molina was raised in Lorain, a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up in a single-wide trailer home on Lake Erie. He began playing guitar at age ten. 

Molina attended Oberlin College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1996.  After playing bass guitar in various heavy metal bands in and around Cleveland, Molina made the decision to become a solo artist under an assumed band name, recruiting other musicians for each individual project as needed. He made several home recordings under various names, including Songs: Albian, Songs: Radix, and Songs: Unitas, which he distributed himself at live performances.


 Ohia: 1996–2003

 Ohia was largely a project of revolving musicians with singer-songwriter Jason Molina as its center and sole stable member. Critics and fans alike have found considerable difficulty in trying to define the band's changing sound, usually settling on more general labels such as indie rock, lo-fi, folk or alt-country. The second part of the name is an allusion to both the Hawaiian tree 'Ōhi'a lehua and Molina's home state of Ohio.

Molina's first release under the Songs: Ohia moniker came in 1996 as a single on Palace Records, Nor Cease Thou Never Now. This was followed by the 1997 full-length album, Songs: Ohia (known among fans as the Black Album), released on the Bloomington, Indiana-based label Secretly Canadian.

In 2000 Molina released three albums: The Lioness which was recorded in Glasgow by producer Andy Miller with help from Alasdair Roberts and members of Arab Strap, Ghost Tropic, recorded by Mike Mogis, and Protection Spells, a solo album which was sold at live shows and is now out of print. By 2000, Molina had given his tenor guitar a rest in favor of a regular six-string electric guitar and put together a full band to back him, including brothers Rob and Dan Sullivan on bass and guitar, Jeff Panall on drums, and Jim Grabowski on organ. In the same year the touring band also recorded a live album near Modena, Italy, which was released locally in 2001 as Mi Sei Apparso Come Un Fantasma.

In 2002 Molina recorded Didn't It Rain in Philadelphia with members of bluegrass band Jim & Jennie & the Pinetops. On the album, named after a Mahalia Jackson song, the band achieved an almost gospel sound that was a vast departure from the dense feel of Ghost Tropic. Constantly recording and writing new songs, Songs: Ohia released a handful of singles and EPs in 2002, including a split EP with My Morning Jacket and a collaborative EP (under the name Amalgamated Sons of Rest) with Will Oldham and Alasdair Roberts.

The release of Magnolia Electric Co. in 2003 marked a shift in direction for Songs: Ohia. Several major differences set this album apart from previous Songs: Ohia releases. First, the album, recorded with renowned engineer Steve Albini, is the most driving and straightforward rock album in the Songs: Ohia catalog. Every song was recorded live in the studio with a full touring band plus musicians from Didn't it Rain.

The album's sound draws heavily from the heartland rock and folk-rock of the 1960s/70s, as well as, to some degree, Molina's heavy metal roots (British metal pioneers Black Sabbath are often cited as one of Molina's influences). Magnolia Electric Co. saw Molina relinquishing vocal duties on two of the eight tracks: local country singer Lawrence Peters lends his voice to "The Old Black Hen", while fellow Secretly Canadian artist Scout Niblett takes over on "Peoria Lunch Box Blues" (both songs were written by Molina).



Magnolia Electric Co.: 2003–2009

In March 2003, while on tour, Molina announced that he would rename the band Magnolia Electric Co., retaining the stylistic direction of the album of the same name. Molina would also continue to release solo work, but this time under his own name. The first such release came in January 2004, as the full-length vinyl release Pyramid Electric Co..

Though Magnolia Electric Co. and Pyramid Electric Co. were originally intended as a double album, the latter seems to be the stylistic polar opposite of the former.

Engineered by Mike Mogis, who also engineered Ghost Tropic, Pyramid found Molina alone at the microphone with only his voice, a piano or a guitar. Magnolia Electric Co.'s first official release was a live album called Trials and Errors, followed by a studio album titled What Comes After The Blues and an EP, Hard To Love a Man, all three released in 2005. In 2006, Molina released two more records: the sparse solo Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go and the more conventional Fading Trails, with Magnolia Electric Co., the latter culled from three separate sessions over the past year.

It is not entirely clear when Songs: Ohia became Magnolia Electric Co. In interviews, Jason Molina claimed that he considered the tenure of Songs: Ohia over after Didn't It Rain,  which would make Magnolia Electric Co. the eponymous debut album under the new name. The name "Songs: Ohia" appears nowhere on the artwork of the album and only a promotional sticker on the cellophane wrapping connects it with the prior name. Nevertheless, Secretly Canadian still promotes the album under the Songs: Ohia moniker. On the other hand, the Magnolia Electric Co. live album Trials and Errors was recorded on April 16, 2003 at the Ancienne Belgique club in Brussels, at a time when the band was still touring under the Songs: Ohia name. Pitchfork Media later reported that name change would be made official after the Spanish tour in October 2003. 


Later years and illness:
 2009–2013

According to Magnolia Electric Co. bandmate Jason Groth, Jason Molina "and the bottle had a complicated relationship" dating back as far as 2003.  The full extent of his alcoholism was not revealed to many of his close friends until after 2009. 

A European tour for Molina & Johnson in support of their self titled album was scheduled for November and December 2009; the tour was cancelled on November 23, 2009, three days before the concerts were to begin. A brief note on that band's official website blamed "health problems" (without elaborating further) for the cancellations, and noted that "Jason Molina is extremely disappointed but there is no way he can be on the road at the present time."  A U.S. leg of the Molina & Johnson tour was scheduled for January and February 2010, but was cancelled in early December, with another brief note on the band's official website due to Molina's "present health issues". Following this announcement, Molina effectively withdrew from public life.

On September 19, 2011, a message from the musician's family was posted on the Secretly Canadian Records website, titled "Where Is Jason Molina?", which said that over the past two years, Molina had visited rehab facilities and hospitals in England, Chicago, Indianapolis, and New Orleans for an unnamed condition.  His family wrote that at the time, he was "currently working on a farm in West Virginia raising goats and chickens for the next year or so, and is looking forward to making great music again." The note also stated that the last several years had been "a very trying time for Jason, his friends, and his family. Although no one can be sure what the future holds, we feel very encouraged by the recent steps Jason has taken on the road towards becoming healthy and productive once again."  The post ended by asking fans to donate to a PayPal account that would fund Molina's recuperation. 

On May 5, 2012, a post titled "a note from jason" was posted on the Magnolia Electric Co. website, explaining certain aspects of his situation for the first time.  Saying that it had been "a long hospital year", Molina expressed gratitude and appreciation for the monetary and emotional support he had received from fans and friends. He gave a brief update on his condition, saying, "Treatment is good, getting to deal with a lot of things that even the music didn't want to. I have not given up because you, my friends have not given up on me." The note concludes on an optimistic tone, saying that there were a few music projects on the "distant radar screen." 

Artistry

Music critics noted Molina's music for its unique blend of indie rock with blues, alternative country, and lo-fi music, which combined "Rust Belt grit with Americana music's pastoral imagery." The New York Times's William Yardley characterized Molina as a "balladeer of heartbreak." He possessed a tenor vocal range. 

According to Molina, he treated his work as a musician like a standard job, writing music eight hours per day.  "I throw away most of what I write," he said in a 2006 interview. "I feel a lot of guilt about the freedom that being an artist provides. I ask myself, `Why am I not the guy emptying the trash, why am I the guy who is watching the guy empty the trash?'" 

Personal life

Molina was married to Darcie Schoenman Molina. They were estranged at the time of his death, and the couple had no children. 

Death

Molina died on March 16, 2013, in Indianapolis as a result of alcohol abuse-related organ failure. He was 39.  Henry Owings, a friend of the musician, published an article on his online music magazine Chunklet that said Molina had struggled with alcoholism for most of the decade leading up to his death. Owings also wrote that Molina had "cashed out on Saturday night in Indianapolis with nothing but a cell phone in his pocket". A biography of Molina's life, titled Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost, was released on May 15, 2017. 

Discography:  ΗΕRΕ




     ΠΑΡΑΠΟΜΠΕΣ-ΠΗΓΕΣ   



cheesewithcrackers
Songs: Ohia - Blue Factory Flame
mawrocki
Songs: Ohia - Coxcomb Red
destiny Lane
Songs: Ohia - Nervous Bride

MilovanJa
Songs: Ohia-Lioness
jyjjy7
Jason Molina - No Moon On The Water


thegallantgrizzly
Songs: Ohia - 7th Street Wonderland


ConflictVeduse
SONGS: OHIA (Jason Molina) "Being In Love" 
from: "The Lioness"
 IndieKid45
Songs: Ohia - Nay Tis Not Death (1998)
Brandon Marlo
Hard To Love A Man: Magnolia Electric Co.
rurakker
Jason Molina - In the Human World
Deadman972
Songs ohia - The body burned away

Songs: Ohia - Farewell Transmission

pk1990

Jason Molina Don't It Look Like Rain
takismenexes
Songs: Ohia - The Old Black Hen
404nolifefound
Blue Chicago Moon by Songs: Ohia | Lyric Video

Songs: Ohia - I've Been Riding with the Ghost
Shotgunnova
Magnolia Electric Co. - The Dark Don't Hide It
stealingjuly
Magnolia Electric Co - Such Pretty Eyes For A Snake
Gos 72

 Songs: Ohia - Ghost Tropic,full album.
01 Lightning Risked It All 0:00 02 The Body Burned Away 5:35 03 No Limit On The Words 11:03 04 Ghost Tropic I 16:21 05 The Ocean's Nerves 19:04 06 Not Just A Ghost's Heart 24:08 07 Ghost Tropic II 36:05 08 Incantation 39:20

skoolbus


 JASON MOLINA:Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go ,
full album,2006.
01. - It's Easier Now 00:00 02. - Everything Should Try Again 04:02 03. - Alone With The Owl 08:16 04. - Don't It Look Like Rain 10:40 05. - Some Things Never Try 14:29 06. - It Must Be Raining There Forever 16:41 07. - Get Out, Get Out, Get Out 20:13 08 - It Costs You Nothing 23:38 09. - Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go 27:36

skoolbus

JASON MOLINA:Pyramid Electric Co,
full album,2004.
01. - Pyramid Electric Co. 00:00 02. - Red Comet Dust 08:49 03. - Division St. Girl 13:55 04. - Honey, Watch Your Ass 19:38 05. - Song Of The Road 27:03 06. - Spectral Alphabet 31:38 07. - Long Desert Train 34:52

skoolbus
JASON MOLINA: Autumn Bird Songs,
full album ,2012.

01. - Heart My Heart 00:00 02. - The Harvest Law 01:41 03. - Enough Of A Stranger 06:08 04. - No Hand Was At The Wheel 08:29 05. - Own & Raven 12:17 06. - Shore To Shore 13:45 07. - First Footing 16:43 08. - A Sad Hard Change 20:04