Magnolia blooms

Magnolia Electric Co. with Golden Boots and Thousand ArrowsWhere: Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave., ChicagoWhen: 10 p.m. todayTickets: $12Info: www.ticketweb.com or (773) 276-3600Jam bands and Ryan Adams are often ridiculed for their relentless product pushing, rewarding -- or, depending on how you see things -- punishing their fans with new music, live recordings and archival burps that seem to roll off the conveyer belt about every other month.Yet here is "Sojourner" (Secretly Canadian), a surprising five-CD box set from Magnolia Electric Co., a band from Chicago that filters blues, country, folk and heavy rock into a singular sound that recalls the high and low mood swings of Neil Young's Crazy Horse. The sudden bounty is unexpected for a band known for its impeccable restraint and sober palette. The group is led by the modest and even-mannered singer and songwriter Jason Molina, who, for seven years, recorded under the name Songs: Ohia, a band featuring him working with a rotating cast of collaborators.While Magnolia Electric Co. is a more set band of musicians, "Sojourner" is on the move. The four CDs (the fifth a DVD) document recording sessions in Memphis, Chicago and Richmond, Va., featuring new and old songs, from primitive home recordings to elaborate studio creations. Like the band itself, the box is less showy and relies on more subtle charms. Only 5,000 copies were pressed. Inside the small wooden box are such curiosities as a pewter medallion and a poster of the constellations. Approaching "Sojourner" is to appreciate its physical handmade aesthetic but also to see how it carries forward onto a sound that is tersely haunting and rich with mystery."Nashville Moon"Recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini, "Nashville Moon" is a loose-limbed country rock album, featuring reworked songs that appeared on previous albums and new ones steeped in a shadowy, late-night mood. Molina's steady vocals will draw comparisons to the steely, flatland voice of Son Volt's Jay Farrar. While both evoke a road weariness that sounds more genuine than constructed, Molina sounds more detached, accompanying the songs more so than driving them. "How many ghosts will I meet on the road/that depends on how hard you're runnin'," he sings ("Nashville Moon"). His band does not soften entirely across the hazy horizon of these songs; when they pick up briskly, there is catharsis. "Hammer Down" rises out of the reverb to summon almost gospel salvation, driven by pedal-steel finery and a ragged snare drum crunch."The Sun Sessions"At some point, every band heads to Sun, the fabled storefront studio in downtown Memphis where rock's blueprint was initially drawn. This 15-minute EP was recorded in a single day, a set of four songs informed by the room's rudimentary vibe. No other disc in this box captures the feeling of a full band intersection. Here, Molina and Co. create delicate jewels with twinkling guitars, a relaxed beat and church organ. "Talk to Me Devil, Again" is less about shouting at the dark lord, but more to simply talking things out."Black Ram"Here's the disc that separates Magnolia Electric Co. from the high and lonesome legion. Hypnotic and taking more left turns than holding a firm center, these nine songs feature gnarling guitars, atmospheric tension and, at times, high menace. Recorded by Cracker's David Lowery at his studio in Richmond, Va., it is a full ensemble effort (including the ghostly whistling of Chicago's Andrew Bird), which accounts for the compelling arrangements -- stark, spidery guitarwork backed by a heavy, industrial stomp from the background ("Will-O-The-Wisp") and noisy interjections interrupting a docile piano ("The Old Horizon"). Molina's lyrics grapple with heavy themes -- "first light of the world/the moon hits the water/never gets this dark until it knows what you owe," he sings -- but with the compelling perspective of a single man."Shohola"Eight home recordings fill this disc, featuring just Molina, a guitar and a tape machine. It'll take patience to make it through these songs, due to Molina's inconspicuous but transfixing voice, which tends to travel beyond lonesome. With the aid of a band, it develops considerable heft, but solo, it washes away. Still, these songs are spacious. Molina foregoes tidy production skills in favor of a raw aesthetic, which results in a setting that benefits from its flaws and leaves you mesmerized."The Road Becomes What You Leave"This brief DVD film follows the band during a tour through the bleak Canadian landscape in Spring 2005. Don't think you'll be showered with band trivia during these 21 minutes. Instead, director Todd Chandler chooses to accompany the inherent solitude of the band's music with artful shots of unraveling highways, road stops and bleak storefronts of forgotten small towns. It's an appropriate marriage, giving the sense, not just of where the music comes from, but of the lengths the musicians go to make it genuine. This is a patient film and often very soothing -- although it would have been nice to hear the audio of the band's blowing off steam during a karaoke session at a roadside bar.