Midwestern musician Jason Molina was found dead, alone in an Indianapolis apartment on March 16, 2013. 

The scene was bleak. According to The Chicago Reader, “A half-filled bottle of cheap vodka lay in the freezer. Cigarette butts littered the floor. A friend stopped by and found the door unlocked but chained from the inside.”

Before Molina descended into the devastating depths of alcoholism, he was one of the most promising indie artists of the early 2000s. 

Under the name Songs: Ohia, Molina released seven underappreciated but critically acclaimed albums. After shedding the Songs: Ohia moniker, Molina released four albums with his alt-country ensemble Magnolia Electric Co.

Between 1997 and 2009, and between the various names he used, Molina released a total of 15 full-length studio albums, as well as many EPs, singles and live albums. 

It’s easy to remember Molina’s demons as much as, if not more than, the art he created. His name is frequently said alongside other ‘tortured’ indie artists like David Berman, Mark Linkous, Vic Chesnutt and Elliott Smith. These artists’ struggles with mental illness and addiction all too often overshadow their musical accomplishments.

If there’s anything Molina should be remembered for, though, it’s his simplistically heart-wrenching lyrics and the stripped-down arrangements that accompanied them. 

Here are four songs that perfectly demonstrate Molina’s remarkable gift as a songwriter.

Songs: Ohia – “The Black Crow”

Perhaps Molina’s darkest album, Songs: Ohia’s “The Lioness from 2000,” is a searing display of raw emotion. On the album’s opening track, “The Black Crow,” the lyrics, “I’m getting weaker / I’m getting thin / I hate how obvious I have been” repeat throughout the song’s choruses. 

Most songs use abstract and vague symbolism to express emotions, but Molina simply refuses to hold back, expressing himself in the most brutally direct way possible. Recorded in Glasgow and featuring Scottish musicians Alasdair Roberts and Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap, “The Black Crow” is a haunting, deeply personal glimpse into debilitating depression.

Magnolia Electric Co. – “O! Grace”

“O! Grace,” the opening track from “Josephine,” the final Magnolia Electric Co. album from 2009, shows Molina with a bittersweet glimmer of hope.

Though he was at the end of his rope both in his career as a musician and his personal life, the traces of hope in the song are unmissable with lyrics like, “Oh boy, if you stop believing / That don’t mean that I just walked away / It’s a long way between horizons / And it gets farther everyday.”

The song features lively instrumentals, prominently including a saxophone solo by Jason Groth. The track was produced by Steve Albini at his Chicago studio.

Considering that “Josephine” was one of Molina’s final projects, it’s hard not to hear his deep, tragic personal struggles in every line of every song on this album. Despite the palpable hopelessness on these songs, Molina’s drive to overcome his demons and continue living is still strongly felt.

Songs: Ohia – “Just Be Simple”

With the 2003 album “Magnolia Electric Co.,” Molina leaned heavily into a unique country inspired sound. However, beyond the twangy lap steel guitars and fiddles, the bleakness of his earlier work still lurked in the album’s lyrics.

On the track “Just Be Simple,” Molina explores the insufferable desperation that persists when dealing with devastating loneliness and depression. His earnest voice takes a similar tone to the weeping sound of the lap steel guitar on the song, making it all the more heartbreaking. 

The memorable opening lines “You never hear me talk about one day getting out / Why put a new address on the same old loneliness” set the stage for one of the most painfully emotional songs of the last 20 years. 

Songs: Ohia – “Blue Chicago Moon”

While focusing on similar themes as many of his other songs, “Blue Chicago Moon” takes the darkness a step further with its haunting, spatial backdrop. When listening to it, one imagines the band playing to an empty crowd in a pitch-black abandoned warehouse as Molina’s desolate voice helplessly echoes from wall to wall.

“Blue Chicago Moon” is another Molina composition that beautifully balances hopelessness with hope. While at one point in the song Molina hypnotically repeats the words “endless, endless depression,” the track closes with the lines, “You are not helpless / I’ll help you to try to beat it.” 

This balanced combination of pessimism and optimism makes “Blue Chicago Moon” one of the quintessential Jason Molina songs.

Despite his tragic demise, Molina’s music has the rare power to soothe those who are experiencing pain in their lives. His honest, personal and raw lyrics will always be relatable and resonant with anyone who has struggled with mental illness. 

If there is any justice in the music world, Molina will one day be rediscovered and reappraised, and all of the people who need his music will find it.