Rock/pop

What Comes After the Blues (Secretly Canadian) may be the best album Neil Young never recorded. Jason Molina retired the Songs: Ohia name in an attempt to lose the one-man-band aesthetic and assemble a living, breathing group. Magnolia Electric Co. draws on American roots with the dirt still clinging on, honed sharp by Steve Albini's patented polished/rough production. Molina's songs (and despite the "band effort" protestations, all the songs save one are his) are the equivalent of an amusement park old-time photo booth: sepia-tinged yet immediate. Mike Brenner's steel guitar draws out the mournfulness in Molina's somnolent drone, while Jennie Benford's backing vox add a dash of melancholy sweetness to the mix. The album is chock-full of forlorn elegies, but opener "The Dark Don't Hide It" is a monster, opening with the sort of crunchy riff that seems ready-made for Crazy Horse-style endless guitar freak-outs.

Wed., Aug. 17, 8 p.m., $10, all ages, with Grand Buffet and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, First Unitarian Church, 22nd and Chestnut sts., 866-468-7619, www.r5productions.com.