Songs Ohia: The Lioness (2000)

Albums Revisited


With such a bombardment of new music essentially overloading my senses, it's been far too long since I've written an Albums Revisited installment. I'm quite astonished by the fact that I've yet to profess my heterosexual man-crush for all things Jason Molina. One of three albums released in 2000 under his Songs: Ohia moniker, The Lioness, which was recorded with the help of members of Arab Strap and Appendix Out, might just be my outright favorite Molina album (and that's saying something considering the vast array of material this criminally overlooked songwriter has released). While Molina's material incorporates elements of folk and country, his ever-evolving music is pretty difficult to describe in any satisfactory way. Devastating in its simultaneous depth and simplicity and one of my favorite rainy-day albums, The Lioness is chalk-full of lyrical artistry centering around the unstable nature of love. On the slow and unwinding title track, Molina muses "I will swim to you/ 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 in your jaws." And that's just scratching the surface of this hauntingly beautiful album. -- Capt. Obvious

Listen:
MP3: Songs Ohia - Being In Love
MP3: Songs Ohia - The Lioness

Tags: Songs Ohia, The Lioness, Jason Molina, Captain Obvious