Secretly Canadian has announced Eight Gates, a new posthumous album from Jason Molina. Due for release on August 7th, it’s believed to the final collection of solo material the lo-fi songwriter recorded before his death in 2013.
The upcoming effort was recorded in 2008 while Molina was residing in London. According to a statement, the musician said he penned the album’s nine songs as he recovered from a “debilitating” spider bite.
“I was in the hospital here in London,” the Songs: Ohia mastermind noted in a letter. “Saw six doctors and a Dr. House-type guy. They are all mystified by it, but I am allowed to be at home, where I am taking a dozen scary Hantavirus type pills a day that are all to supposedly help — but they make me feel like shit.” The same letter also saw Molina claim that the “crude” bird field recordings heard on Eight Gates actually came from parakeets owned by Jimi Hendrix and released in London in the ’60s.
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As a first look at the posthumous LP, Secretly Canadian has shared a song called “Shadow Answers the Wall”. Stream that below.
Eight Gates is now available for pre-order. Molina’s last album before his passing, Autumn Bird Songs, came out in 2012.
Eight Gates Artwork:
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Eight Gates Tracklist:
01. Whisper Away
02. Shadow Answers the Wall
03. The Mission’s End
04. Old Worry
05. She Says
06. Fire on the Rail
07. Be Told the Truth
08. Thistle Blue
09. The Crossroad + The Emptiness
Read Secretly Canadian’s full, colorful bio for the album:
Fast-forward to 2008, Molina set off on an experimental solo tour through Europe. While in Northern Italy, Molina claimed to have been bitten by a rare, poisonous spider. A debilitating bout of illness ensued. “I was in the hospital here in London,” Molina wrote in a letter. “Saw six doctors and a Dr. House-type guy. They are all mystified by it, but I am allowed to be at home, where I am taking a dozen scary Hantavirus type pills a day that are all to supposedly help — but they make me feel like shit.” There is no record of a single doctor visit, not any prescription record for these medications. It is entirely plausible there was no spider and that whatever was keeping him indoors during this time was entirely self-induced. While at home, he of course wrote songs.
Molina also claimed that during this time, he fed several bright green parrots that would gather in his yard and made short, crude field recordings of them with his trusty four-track. Only once Molina was officially on the mend and re-exploring the streets of London would he learn that those parrots had their own fabled tale. Back in the 60s, Jimi Hendrix — in a moment of psychedelic clarity — released his pair of lime green ring-necked parakeets from their cage, setting them free into the London sky. Now, their descendants are spotted regularly around certain parts of the city. Or so we’re told.
