Its spacious textures, starkness and the emphasis on Molina’s understated but haunting vocal delivery mean that this music provides a window into Molina’s working process and creates a moving intimacy. It is like listening to the voices of ghosts.
The ten songs on Eight Gates from the late Jason Molina are fascinating, despite – or perhaps because of – their raw, unfinished feel.
It's just a short but compelling set of songs from a singular artist, and however it made its way to a public hearing, listeners can only be grateful it has emerged at last.
Rather than forming cohesive narrative in his music, Molina was brilliant for his ability to evoke pangs of nostalgic melancholy with fractured images.
Eight Gates feels like the beginning of a noted descent into a deeper, darker place. But, as any good posthumous release must do, the fonder memories play out.
It reinforces Molina as an artist rather than as someone overtaken by demons, as a flawed man rather than the myth he often made himself out to be.
The mood is dark - hardly unusual for Molina. Sometimes it's dark in an anxious way, sometimes with a sense of some imminent loss, though other times transcendent.
From start to end, Eight Gates, which was recorded during a stint when Molina was living alone in London, is a stark yet beautiful reminder of the fragile, ephemeral nature of life.
The stand, interspersed with parakeet song and snippets of studio chat, as reminders of a great talent lost, and what might have been.
The late songwriter recorded the unreleased Eight Gates in the ’00s. The posthumous version sounds by turns haunting and unfinished.
While Eight Gates seems mostly germinal and is not the ideal introduction to Molina's work, fans will likely forgive the album's inchoateness and simply appreciate another dollop of the artist's distinct melancholia.
"Eight Gates emerges as Jason’s final testament and tries to bring everything that made him who he was, however, it is unable to accomplish this feat very well. Just like what happened in other Jason Molina works, Eight Gates brings something rawer and more unfinished, a true raw material of the singer’s songs. However, the tracks here do not bring that feeling of something purposeful that managed to keep the essence that Molina used to tell, on the contrary, the songs here ... read more
Jason Molina is basically the Phil Elverum of Alt-Country
Both gained some recognition as singer-songwriters and leaders of bands, The Microphones/Songs:Ohia, in the late 90s, but far more so in the early 00s. They then start another group in '03/'04, named after the highly acclaimed final record from their previous project, Mount Eerie/Magnolia Electric Co. gaining further praise for the rest of the 00s.
This is where they split though, Molina had been dealing with alcohol problems from as ... read more
Fuck, man. Now I'm crying into my mask as I'm waiting for my bus. That's not fair. My mask finna be hella soggy now.
This shit is absolutely beautiful.
Maybe I'll find more words to say soon. For now, I'll just say that this is my favorite posthumous release in recent memory. Whilst the album is definitely stripped-back and pretty simplistic. This is some of the more raw and evocative singer-songwriter music you'll hear. The bare presentation of these songs can sometimes elevate the ... read more
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