this interlude feels like crying in the dark at 3am but in the most beautiful way. Gambino really said “here’s 50 seconds of raw emotion” and dipped. haunting, soft, and weirdly comforting.
Apr 11, 2025
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my favorite ending for an album that i feel, is in large part, about the various modalities of longing and lament. it feels weary and wise, almost recollective like one might be at the end of a life. reminds me of a stanley kunitz poem 💙
May 21, 2024
It’s such an uncompromising song, it tackles grief and the processing of it in a vulnerable but ultimately human way. The production (credit to Benjamin Booker & Kenny Segal) is unsettling but warm, like you know that it can only get better but you have to just sit and deal with the discomfort of your current situation in order to get there.
There’s a delicate piano melody that fades in and out of the mix alongside the faint hum of a guitar making what is in concept a experimental rap song into something different, the ‘rapping’ is more like spoken word poetry. Benjamin Bookers intro despite being repetitive due to his relaying of ‘I was only a dove, only in love’ is made so powerful due to how worn out and whispery his voice is, like it’s a memory of a loved one haunting you.
Which in turn fades into billy woods’ verse which reads more like poetry than a rap verse. Some of my favourite lines being: ‘They called like "Come now, he doesn't have long to live", I dress slowly, Came back that night and took my baby out the crib so I could hold him’ or ‘Locked doors never had a key but you test the handle occasionally, God forbid it swing open” “Attic stairs broken, don't go up there, From the windows i watch the diggers disappear in soft wet earth, Dinner served, i waited for my guests, long table set.’ It’s so bleak but perfectly describes the little moments of discomfort you feel when losing someone and I think it works perfectly combined with how minimalistic the production is.
The closing segment from ELUCID is a lot grander in scale and thematically darker, the production starts to get corrupted with static crackles slowly consuming each layer of the instrumental whilst ELUCID foretells the impending end. It’s a sucker punch that catches you out but it works due to how the song is structured all the emotions caused by loss are only told about up until this point and ELUCIDs part represents the listener tackling them head-on. It’s uncomfortable and you’ll probably skip it on relisten (hell I often do) but I think it’s purpose is so powerful and as a whole the song is incredibly thought provoking.
Apr 13, 2025
The whole song is fantastic in full but this part of the song always makes me tear up.
Is it the hopeful but uncertain tone of the violin after 14 minutes of droning build? Is it the possibility to rise from the ashes? or the ability to recognize the beauty after the decay? I am not certain but when art like this affects so tenderly like this, it’s incredible.
To lilt after the darkness? what does it mean? To dance regardless?
Feb 27, 2024
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Idk, I want to see more expression on the street
Feb 11, 2025
Feb 13, 2025
Magnolia Electric Co. - Jason Molina & Songs: Ohia
This is one of my favorite albums of all time. It was produced by Steve Albini (R.I.P) and was at the height of Jason Molina's career. A few songs legitimately floor me every time I hear them. Farewell Transmission is at the very top of that list. Everything about it hits me viscerally, from the gorgeous lyrics ("Mama here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws"), to that goddamn perfect ending cutting out at just the right moment. "Listen!"
The rest of the album carries on from there, sprawling farther and farther with each song after the opener, and god if Hold On Magnolia isn't a hell of a bookend. The sheer pathos and emotion of this album is incredible. But fuck me if Farewell Transmission isn't just one of the greatest songs of all time.
Anywho, definitely give it a listen!
Feb 3, 2025