There is nothing but highlights here. "Don't Fade on Me", "Montgomery" and " Lonesome Valley" gently rock with memory, regret and hope; "The Old Horizon" and "Talk to Me Devil, Again" are the kind of brooding interior epics that place Molina in the big leagues.   Full text...

The tracks on Fading Trails are taken from a number of separate recording sessions - with Steve Albini, Camper Van Beethoven's David Lowery, and at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis.  Full text...

Fading Trails is the best Magnolia's done.  Full text...

You'll notice the standard Molina themes (loyalty, betrayal, loneliness and trucker mysticism) and the standard Molina imagery (wolves, moons, hearts, owls, and other stuff that might make cool marshmallows in a bowl of cereal). Despite the relatively heavy guitars and relatively dense production (relatively dense, that is, for famed "engineer" Steve Albini), you'll notice a similarity to the smart, earnest, complex material Molina played as Songs: Ohia.  Full text...

It finds Molina at his most masterful, in full voice and with the country rock loneliness that found him earning numerous comparisons with Neil Young.   Full text...

It’s a solid, tempered return.  Full text...

Fading Trails feels like a handful of decent songs that, thrown together seemingly at random, form an unfortunate snooze of a record.  Full text...