Beer to cry into? Check.
Cigarettes to hide your already red-rimmed eyes? Check.
A broken heart and a profound sense of melancholy? Check.

These items firmly in hand, one is ready to enjoy Magnolia Electric Co. in all their ragged glory.

The band’s return to D.C. last night at the Black Cat, a mere six months after their previous appearance, this time in support of the newly released Fading Trails, was everything we’ve come to expect from Jason Molina and his band: plaintive, heartfelt alt-country with the occasional searing guitar solo. What was unfortunate was the sound, which seems to be more and more of an issue these days at the Cat. Last night, the overdriven high end made the louder moments of the show shrill and piercing, and an annoying feedback whine had the band members humming into the vocal mics trying to match its pitch in frustrated amusement. In the end it was hard to tell if Molina was particularly perturbed, but the lack of an encore despite the enthusiastic audience pleas would seem to indicate he wasn’t particularly happy with something.