Molina & Johnson - Molina & Johnson

Molina & Johnson sound like investment bankers. I don’t just mean that their ampersand-friendly stage name bears resemblance to high-flying/brought low City firms, though the straightforward nom-de-plume selected by Molina, Jason (of Magnolia Electric Co.) and Johnson, Will (of Centro-matic) was likely chosen for much the same effect. By labelling this a Serious Equal Partnership, Molina & Johnson make it clear that this isn’t a trivial vanity side-project for either member. But, what with this credit crunch, the comparison may be apt in another sense, their miserable lassitude probably not too far away from said bankers’ general mood of late. In fact, the solemnity is too much, oppressively stifling the duo’s undisputed individual talents and producing a deadening torpor. The inertia is only infrequently broken (Twenty Cycles To The Ground resembles vintage Sparklehorse); otherwise this is a disappointingly one-note, one-pace and one-mood collaboration in need of a bailout.