Last month Run For Cover announced I Will Swim To You: A Tribute To Jason Molina, a forthcoming compilation album featuring a dozen artists covering songs by the late great Songs: Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co. frontman. We've heard MJ Lenderman's take on "Just Be Simple" as well as Sun June's version of "Leave The City," and today we get another couple of previews from Trace Mountains and Teen Suicide.
Trace Mountains' Dave Benton covered "The Dark Don't Hide It," the opener to Magnolia Electric Co.'s 2005 album What Comes After The Blues. Here's what he had to say about it:
I first heard about Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. when I was trying to find a label to put out my 2020 record Lost In The Country. An A&R I was chatting with said my songs reminded them of Jason's and it prompted a dive into his catalog that turned into a minor obsession with certain songs. The label conversation eventually fizzled out, but I was still glad to have discovered all Jason Molina's wonderful music. "The Dark Don't Hide It" was always my favorite song of his, so when I was asked to contribute to this compilation I thought a piano-forward arrangement of the song might be kind of nice. So that's what we did! Thanks for listening.
Meanwhile, Teen Suicide covered Songs: Ohia's "Whip Poor Will," a B-side from 2003's Magnolia Electric Co. album, which they've done in live shows before. Teen Suicide's Sam Ray explains:
Jason Molina's music, particularly his records as Songs: Ohia, have been a huge part of my life. His music has gotten me through some of the very dark times in my life, and his songwriting has been immensely influential to me as well. I think the same could be said for a lot of our bandmates over the years, particularly Sean Mercer, who played with Teen Suicide for about seven or eight years. Soon after he joined the band full-time we started doing a cover of 'Whip Poor Will' at our shows. We'd play a version similar to the b-side from Magnolia Electric Co—stripped down to two guitars and nothing else, Sean would sing Molina's lead, and I'd sing Jennie Benford’s.
When Run For Cover asked if we'd like to be part of a compilation honoring Molina's music and legacy, I asked immediately if we could record a cover of it, hoping to capture the version we'd been playing for so many years. Thankfully we had a chance to reconvene and plan out our cover—doing it almost the same as before but now with the addition of Ahren Buchheisster playing the pedal steel as well. All these years later it's still one of my favorite songs ever; I couldn't be happier to have it be part of this wonderful compilation.
Both covers sound nice, and you can check them out below.
I Will Swim To You: A Tribute To Jason Molina is out 9/5 via Run For Cover. Pre-order it here.
