Veering into the generic, Magnolia Electric Co. lacks power

CAMBRIDGE -- Magnolia Electric Co. officially formed in 2003, but in many ways it seems older than that. Sharing its name with the title of the final album by frontman Jason Molina's earlier Songs: Ohia provided a sort of crossfade between the two projects, creating a sense of continuity that isn't otherwise obvious from Magnolia's lone studio album, ''What Comes After the Blues."

The band further blurred the lines at T.T. the Bear's on Tuesday, playing as many songs from Songs: Ohia's ''Magnolia Electric Co." as from the new album and throwing a number of unreleased songs such as ''Bowery" into the mix. The most immediate applause was reserved for Songs: Ohia numbers such as ''Farewell Transmission" and ''Just Be Simple," the chord progression and guitar riff of which came uncomfortably close to the Wallflowers' ''6th Avenue Heartache."

Onstage, the band's performance was a noisier affair than its Steve Albini-produced album, the sharp sound of which gave way to a more organic and swirling mix of guitars, lap steel, and electric piano. Microphone problems early on seemed to throw Molina for the rest of the evening, and his flat, affectless voice had a hard time carrying. The absence of singer-guitarist Jennie Benford, whose contributions served as a counterpoint to Molina on ''What Comes After the Blues," didn't help.

That wouldn't have mattered so much if Molina's material was strong enough to stand on its own, but despite a few keepers like the nearly eight-minute, Son Volt-like opener ''The Dark Don't Hide It," too many of the songs had the generic sound of an indie band trying its hand at 1970s cosmic cowboy music. Molina joked at one point about telling a US/Canada border guard that the group was Wilco, but Magnolia Electric Co. won't fool anybody yet.

Beverly band Blythe Hollow opened with a set of rustic roots-pop, reverb-laden electric guitar standing in for a pedal steel. Pittsburgh rap duo Grand Buffet was a more random fit, coming off like the Barenaked Ladies as electroclash rejects. They seemed both to acknowledge and embrace their ridiculousness, dealing with their own technical problems with good humor and joining Magnolia Electric Co. for a cover of Van Halen's ''Running With the Devil."