Molina and Johnson

I put the cosmic stability of the universe to test by not deserting my bed until 1 pm. I do nothing. I should work but I don't. I should sort things out but I don't. Too much to do. Outise: furry landscapes, deep-blue afternoon. This is the kind of day I want to listen to Jason Molina and Will Johnson. They have made an album together this year, Molina and Johnson. Some of the music they have made in various projects belong to things I return to over and over again. Molina's solo records are starkly beautiful and so is his work as Songs:Ohia, especially the stripped-down Lioness. Will Johnson made a gorgeous album under his own name, Vultures await, where he accomplished a classic, yet captivating sound. He has also made two albums under the moniker South san gabriel that have a hard-to-pin-down hazy, late-night quality. Plus good lyrics. Another chapter is the more upbeat indie-rock (magnolia electric co., Centro-matic) both Molina & Johnson have been dappling with along the years. I can't say I'm a fan of that. Their collaboration carves out a space for sparser material. That looks promising. But even though this is the kind of record I would normally like, I am disappointed (which is yet another proof that it is hard to like some "kind" of music). Right from the start, Molina's & Johnson's record album fail to engage me. There's no magic, no energy, no tension, no struggle in the music. I know it's supposed to sound "earthy", but even, as on the scratchy sounding "all gone, all gone", when a singing saw / theremin (?) is thrown in, the result is contrived and boring, even a bit silly. I'm sorry, but this album mostly sounds so uninspired even though all songs are conventionally pretty - and that's a major problem. Too pretty. Sometimes it works ("in the avalon/little killer"), but those moments are rare. This is like a blue-print of how Molina & Johnson are supposed to sound at their most quiet. There are some good elements, but the songs don't take off. A few songs are surprisingly sentimental - and I try hard to see whether it is tongue-in-cheek or not (like "each star marks a day" with a weeping steel pedal and dirgey lyric). I mean, hell, some of these song could be played over the ending of a sugar-coated, faux-indie romantic movie. Sadly, Molina and Johnson sounds just like the story about how this record was made, two guys making music in 'home base', Texas, drinking, smoking, shooting BB guns. No thanks, me no like cuddly buddy music. Like one reviewer sourly put it, these guys sound like investment bankers. It's not bad, but what it lacks is a real sense of curiosity and experimentation.