Magnolia Electric Co.: SojournerSecretly Canadian: 8/7/2007
UPDATE: I have corrected a factual error because of a reader comment. Thank you, Anonymous.
Sojourner, Magnolia Electric Co.'s box set of demos, consists of four CDs and one DVD, as well as a ton of promotional bric-a-brac. I only care about the music, so i just downloaded the digital version from Emusic. As a single album of twenty-two tracks, Sojourner probably holds together better than it does as four separate CDs, I suspect. The album is great for long, cross-town bus trips of the sort I take twice daily. This is not just because most of the songs are about travel. All the demos on Sojourner are mature and well-developed, some even more so than their studio counterparts that have appeared previously. Sojourner shows that Magnolia Electric Co. is at its best when its charm shines unobscured by glossy production.