(2018) Songs Ohia - Love & Work; The Lioness Sessions
Review:
In 1999, Jason Molina had fallen in love with the woman who would later become his wife, and the relationship would inform a set of songs he recorded in Glasgow, Scotland with Aiden Moffat and David Gow of Arab Strap serving as producers. But the joy of new love didn’t communicate in his music as strongly as the baggage that came with it — waves of doubt, crippling uncertainty, and the terrible awareness that you’ve set yourself up for the possibility of crushing heartbreak. At the same time, Molina was a man who struggled to be strong enough to rise to the responsibilities of a long-term relationship, and to be what his love needed him to be. The album that came out of this period, 2000’s The Lioness, was as spare and unnervingly personal as anything he would ever record, often featuring little more than Molina’s plaintive vocals and his guitar, and it would go on to be one of the defining works in his catalog. Eighteen years after The Lioness was first released — and five years after Molina’s death due to organ failure brought on by severe alcoholism — the album has been given an expanded reissue in Love & Work: The Lioness Sessions, which features the nine songs from the original release along with seven tracks recorded during the same sessions that didn’t make the cut, and four tunes he cut on a four-track machine a few days before he began work on The Lioness. While much of the music on The Lioness is purposefully minimal, the arrangements are expanded just a bit on several of the outtakes. The bass, drums, and organ, while low-key, take on a more prominent role in the arrangements, and there is a greater sense of strength and defiance in Molina’s delivery. And “I Promise Not to Quit” is a statement of courage and belief that’s all the more striking as it stands in contrast with the other performances. But as a whole, this is still music that speaks to a dark night of the heart and soul, and the unreleased tracks are as strong and well-crafted as the material released in 2000.
The Lioness wasn’t a set of music that lent itself to playful or casual listening, but experienced as intended, it was both challenging and deeply moving. Love & Work: The Lioness Sessions only reinforces those strengths. If the darkness of this music seems sadly fitting for a man who would die young, the passion leaves no doubt that Molina knew the high stakes of life and love, and was willing to take the gamble despite it all.
Tracklist:
01 - The Black Crow.flac
02 - Tigress.flac
03 - Nervous Bride.flac
04 - Being in Love.flac
05 - Lioness.flac
06 - Coxcomb Red.flac
07 - Back On Top.flac
08 - Baby Take a Look.flac
09 - Just a Spark.flac
10 - On My Way Home (Lioness Sessions Outtake).flac
11 - Never Fake It (Lioness Sessions Outtake).flac
12 - From the Heart (Lioness Sessions Outtake).flac
13 - It Gets Harder Over Time (Lioness Sessions Outtake).flac
14 - I Promise Not to Quit (Lioness Sessions Outtake).flac
15 - Neighbors of Our Age (Lioness Sessions Outtake).flac
16 - Pyrate II (Even Now) (Lioness Sessions Outtake).flac
17 - Velvet Marching Band (Lissy’s Sessions).flac
18 - Raw (Lissy’s Sessions).flac
19 - Already Through (Lissy’s Sessions).flac
20 - Wonderous Love (Lissy’s Sessions).flac
Summary:
Country: Scotland
Genre: indie-folk, indie-rock
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~ 833-1000 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
