Considering that Fading Trails is the first of five (yes, five) albums planned on being released in the next year by Magnolia Electric Co. (not including the sparse solo album lead man Jason Molina already released last month) you'd have to seriously wonder if the incredibly prolific Molina is starting to spread himself a bit too thin. In a sense the answer is yes, but that doesn't mean that Fading Trails is a misfire. Trails seems to be an album content with simply being a solid listen, but hardly an essential purchase; something that Molina's work going back to even his old band Songs: Ohia had consistently been.

Fading Trails features only nine tracks and at 28 minutes in length it goes by pretty fast. It is culled from songs cherry picked from all five sessions mentioned above and while it is good, it lacks any fleck of cohesion and feels pretty disjointed at times. Molina, who is always instantly compared to Neil Young, seems to have made an almost Rust Never Sleeps type album with Fading Trails because of its half full band, half acoustic solo numbers. Tracks like "Don't Fade On Me" and "Talk To Me Devil, Again" have that Crazy Horse backed feel that Molina has been mining on subsequent Magnolia albums. "Spanish Moon Fall And Rise" and "Steady Now" have that haunting, acoustic bent that the first half of Rust is always remembered for. If you haven't delved into the world of all things Molina yet, I certainly wouldn't recommend this trail (as it were) for your jumping off point. Go with the Songs: Ohia album actually titled Magnolia Electric Co. to begin on the long and winding path of appreciating this under appreciated talent's near 15 album career. But if you're a long time fan like myself, hunker down for the next four albums in the coming months because they're sure to be at their very least, worthwhile listens.