Several reviews are coming in from the international release of the record, Lines From The Frame including reviews from  UNITED KINGDOM, ITALY, IRELAND, DENMARK. Here are samples:
IRELAND (IRISH TIMES): I’m not one for strings attached, but everything has its place. Magnolia Summer (a new name to me, though this is the St Louis band’s third album) lay on the strings bigtime on Diminished Returns , the second track from an album of shimmering, jangling excellence. And, boy, does it work, with great washes of sound building up around a memorable alt.country melody. It’s just one of the many fine tracks on this collection, which stands tall in the tradition of The Jayhawks and even Wilco in places. The songs are all written by Chris Grabau, who also handles the vocals and plays guitars. It’s fair to say the lyrics are a tad abstract, though there are great hooks, choruses, harmonies, melodies and guitar breaks. In short, it’s all an alt.country devotee could desire from an obscure album.
MAVERICK UK
Superior country-tinged rock and roll with a hint or two of Son Volt
As the opening track, the short and sweet full-on harmonic rocker Like Setting Suns, comes pounding out of the speakers St. Louis’ Magnolia Summer set out their stall for what turns out to be one of the better albums of 2009 so far. Produced by Jason McEntire, who’s also worked with Son Volt, there’s more than a hint of Jay Farrar’s voice in Chris Grabau’s vocals, though Grabau is a far better and more expressive singer and the music he and his band make is better than anything the Volt have done any time lately.
Although in general the sound is a little too much in debt to Son Volt from time to time, particularly on To Better Days, though here as elsewhere it boasts great guitar leads from moonlighting Bottle Rocket John Horton, in the main the band have carved out their own space somewhere between late period Wilco and early REM. The intensity and layered sound of songs like the reflective Short Wave Decline, complete with furious and passionate guitar solo, the thoughtful and downbeat ballad Birds Without A Wire and Pulling Phase to Ground, which build in great swirls to a hypnotic and impassioned climax are all complete with lyrics that are several cuts above the norm.
The delicate instrumental (Mercer) separates the album into two ‘sides’ and side two also opens with a driving rocker, in this case The Wrong CHords, and proceeds to deliver as much quality as side one. Finished off with the appropriately titled Epitaph Magnolia Summer, and writer and singer Grabau in particular, have delivered an album that combines wistfulness, philosophy and rock n’ roll and combined into a perhaps unlikely but great listening experience.
ILPOPOLODEBLUES (ITALY) Â - Â Lines From the Frame is Saint Louis band Magnolia Summer ‘s third album. Co-produced by Joe Thebeau, this album shares influences that go from R.E.M. to Wilco passing trough Son Volt.
