Pitchfork

Along with a couple other lyrical fixations, Jason Molina loves him some moon. Just take a gander at the tracklist for the Magnolia Electric Co frontman's impressive five-disc box set Sojourner, hitting shops courtesy of Secretly Canadian on August 7.

Disc one: "No Moon on the Water" and "Nashville Moon"; disc two: "And the Moon Hits the Water"; disc three: "Memphis Moon"; and disc four: "Spanish Moon Fall and Rise". Molina finally bucks the lunar trend on disc five, a DVD that contains a tour film titled The Road Becomes What You Leave that might as well be subtitled The Moon Becomes What You Moon, Part Moon.

The four audio discs comprise recording sessions Jason's been threatening to release for a while now: the Nashville Moon session, recorded with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio, the Sun Session, recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, the Black Ram session, recorded by David Lowery (Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven) at Sound of Music, and the Shohola session, which Molina recorded by his lonesome.

Speaking of lonesome, the fifth disc's tour documentary, produced by Todd Chandler and Tim Sutton, apparently (says the press release) "shows the loneliness and isolation one can feel even when traveling in a pack."

All five discs come in an honest-to-goodness wooden crate, with postcards featuring Munch-esque artwork, and-- get this-- an actual moon-shaped medallion, your reward for making it through this many hours of moon-addled music.

Guests on Sojourner include Chicago whistler Andrew Bird, David Lowery (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker), Rick Alverson (Spokane), Mike Brenner (Slo-Mo), Molly Blackbird, Miguel Urbiztondo, Alan Weatherhead, Peter Schreiner, Jonathan Cargill, and Magnolia regulars Jason Evans Groth, Mark Rice, and Michael Kapinus.

Thanks to reader Paul Belbusti for the tip!

Magnolia will take in many a Spanish moon whilst touring the Iberian Peninsula next month, plus some slightly-less-romantic German and Austrian moons thereafter. Then it's some North American harvest moons in late summer, including one sliver of Jason Molina solo moon man action.

Sojourner:

Disc 1: Nashville Moon:

01 Lonesome Valley
02 Montgomery
03 Don't Fade on Me
04 Hammer Down
05 No Moon on the Water
06 Nashville Moon
07 What Comes After the Blues
08 Don't This Look Like the Dark
09 North Star
10 Bowery
11 Texas 71
12 Down the Wrong Road Both Ways

Disc 2: The Black Ram:

01 In the Human World
02 The Black Ram
03 What's Broken Becomes Better
04 Will-O-the-Wisp
05 Kanawha
06 A Little at a Time
07 Blackbird
08 And the Moon Hits the Water
09 The Old Horizon

Disc 3: Sun Session:

01 Talk to Me Devil, Again
02 Memphis Moon
03 Hold On Magnolia
04 Trouble in Mind

Disc 4: Shohola:

01 Steady Now
02 Spanish Moon Fall and Rise
03 Night Country
04 Shiloh Temple Bell
05 The Spell
06 Take One Thing Along
07 The Lamb's Song
08 Roll the Wheel

Disc 5: DVD: The Road Becomes What You Leave

Magnolia Electric Co:

06-19 Lerida, Spain - Cafe del Teatre Escorxador
06-20 Madrid, Spain - El Sol
06-21 Seville, Spain - Teatre Central
06-22 Malaga, Spain - Teatro Canovas
06-23 Granada, Spain - Teatro Alhambra
06-25 London, England - Scala
06-26 Nottingham, England - Rescue Rooms
06-29 Ebensee, Austria - Kino
06-30 Vienna, Austria - Szene
07-01 Munich, Germany - Rote Sonne
07-02 Stuttgart, Germany - Schocken
07-03 Karlsruhe, Germany - Jubez
07-04 Kristiansand, Norway - Quart Festival
08-23 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird
08-24 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
08-25 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St Entry
08-26 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
08-27 Kansas City, MO - Grand Emporium
08-28 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
08-29 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
08-31 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
09-01 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
09-04 Arcata, CA - Muddy Hot Cup
09-05 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
09-06 Los Angeles, CA - Echo
09-07 Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace
09-08 Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace *
09-10 Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts
09-11 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
09-13 Austin, TX - Emo's
09-14 Oklahoma City, OK - Conservatory
09-15 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
09-16 Houston, TX - Rudyard's Pub
09-19 Jackson, MS - Hal & Mal's
09-20 Birmingham, AL - The Bottle Tree
09-21 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
09-22 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club
09-23 Columbia, SC - Columbia Music Festival Association
09-24 Mount Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern
09-25 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
09-26 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
09-27 Washington, DC - Black Cat
09-28 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
09-29 New York, NY - The Blender Theatre at Gramercy
09-30 Portland, OR - Space Gallery
10-01 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
10-02 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
10-03 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa (Pop Montreal)
10-04 Ottawa, Ontario - Zaphod Beeblebrox
10-05 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
10-06 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
11-23 The Hague, Netherlands - Crossing Borders Festival

* Jason Molina solo