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lready known for operating at a consistently mournful pitch, dark things might be expected from a tribute album by Jason Molina, especially considering it's one devoted to Evan Farrell, his band's former bassist, who died in late 2007. Yet Molina, the brains and heart behind Magnolia Electric Co. (formerly Songs: Ohia), pays homage to his friend on Josephine by tempering that sadness with a surprising level of light, crafting a narrative that's equal parts crushing and uplifting.

Sadness, of course, still abounds. "I feel as lonely as the world's first ghost," the singer notes near the beginning of opener "O Grace,"...