Didn't It Rain is Jason Molina's first perfect record. Recorded live in a single room, with no overdubs and musicians creating their parts on the fly, the overall approach to the recording was nothing new for Molina. But something in the air and execution of Didn't It Rain clearly sets it apart from his existing body of work. His albums had always been full of space, but never had Molina sculpted the space as masterfully as he does on Didn't It Rain. While demo'd and recorded months before the events of 9/11, Didn't It Rain does seem to somehow consider the mood of the time. It's surely an album about setting roots, but it also offers a moment of solace in a time of overwhelming uncertainty. Here, Molina's now well-known battle with depression aligns with an entire nation's moment of depression. While even more cryptic and spartan, Didn't It Rain's imagery and themes can be poetically linked to another 2002 Chicago-rooted album that tapped into the post-9/11 psyche, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This expanded reissue presents Molina's home demos of the record, eight previously unreleased tracks, complete with a distant playground full of children chiming in the background for a few songs. The glorious juxtaposition of Molina's songs' desolation and the blissful playing of children is about as haunting as it gets, friends.