Chris Grabau has led Magnolia Summer through three albums, each one further refining his vision of direct, heartfelt American music. But with this year's Lines From the Frame, Grabau and his bandmates have perfected the balance between plangent guitar rock and delicate introspection. On Lines, the Superchunk-meets-Son-Volt rock of "Like Setting Suns" glides into the string-laden "Diminished Returns," a song that culminates in a flurry of overdriven guitar and fiddle arpeggios. The musicians rarely miss a step on Magnolia Summer records, but it is Grabau's lyrics that warrant repeated listens. His narrators seem perpetually unsettled, caught between duties and dreams, but he never fails to wrap bare emotions in smartly worded, poetically phrased lyrics, as on the acoustic ballad "Birds Without a Wire." Lines From the Frame has won over critics in Ireland, Denmark and Italy — it seems the rest of the world is learning what St. Louis music fans have known for some time.
Seth Porter
| Sep 26, 2013
Tim Gebauer
| Sep 27, 2012
Justin Johnson
| Sep 22, 2011
The Bottle Rockets
| Sep 29, 2010
Caleb Travers
| Sep 24, 2008
Jason Hutto
| Sep 26, 2007
Casey Reid
| Sep 27, 2006
Joe Stickley
| Sep 29, 2005
Chris Johnson
| Sep 29, 2004
Andy Ploof and John Wendland
| Sep 24, 2003