Jason Molina – The Harvest Law
Even though I considered myself a long time fan of Jason Molina’s work, at his passing I was overwhelmed with how much music the man recorded. One of the drawbacks of working at a station that has no working library and no highly organized music department is that you are 100% responsible for tracking down your music. In times where there is a lot going on personally, such as grading which tends to be the thing that takes me far away from my “life” as a DJ, it means that I’m not able to stay up on new releases. At Molina’s passing I was particularly saddened that I hadn’t heard of what would be his final release before death, 2012’s Autumn Bird Songs. The collection wasn’t meant to be a swan song. It was meant to be a compliment to artwork from William Schaff (that’s some of his work on the cover) in a book called From Blacksheep Boys to Bill Collectors. As possibly Molina’s final statement, the EP is a heartbreaker. Hearing the changes in Molina’s voice give you a sense why he felt it was important enough to take a hiatus to work on his health issues. The wounded quality of Molina’s voice gives “The Harvest Law” an even greater weight than it’s cryptic lyrics suggest. There’s a finality present as he counts down “twelve fires,” a process that sounds as if the world is ending, made all the more terrifying through the knowledge that there will be no more from Jason Molina.