I’m
fresh off a lovely three day weekend where I got all kinds of chances to do fun
things, hear great music and generally enjoy the company of wonderful people.
Disc 1182 is… Acid Tongue
Artist: Jenny
Lewis
Year of Release: 2008
What’s up with the Cover? A blotter sheet of Jennys. I
know what Hunter S. Thompson would have done with this cover, but I need a
place to keep the CD.
How I Came To Know It: I loved Jenny Lewis’s 2006 album “Rabbit
Fur Coat” so I took a chance on “Acid Tongue” without having heard a single
song.
How It Stacks Up: I have four slight variations on Jenny Lewis’
solo career: two solo records, one with Johnathan Rice and one with the Watson
Twins. Taken together (as I choose to do) that’s four ‘solo’ records. Of those
four, I put “Acid Tongue”…fourth. Hey, someone has to be last.
Ratings: 3 stars
It is no surprise Jenny Lewis has so many different solo
projects; she is constantly experimenting with her sound.
On other albums Lewis explores stripped down folk (“Rabbit
Fur Coat”) and highly produced pop (“Voyager”) and masters them both. On “Acid
Tongue” there her usual brand of indie pop made (relatively) famous with her
old band Rilo Kiley, mixed with a lot of traditional blues riffs. While I
admire the ambition of it all, I found the crossover awkward in places.
First the good stuff, and there is plenty. “Pretty Bird” is a moody atmospheric
piece that showcases those pure vocals and with its mix of bluesy bass groove, Latin
guitar flourishes, and ambient feedback it takes a lot of risks and manages to
make them pay off.
The title track is less musically risky, but one of
the finest tracks on the record. here Lewis opts for a stripped down acoustic guitar
strum and a narrative style that would have been equally at home on her
previous album, the folksy “Rabbit Fur Coat”. The song has Lewis in familiar
territory, as she walks the line between hippy wisdom and lovelorn regret:
“By the rolling
river is exactly where I was
There was no snake
oil cure for unlucky in love
To be lonely is a
habit like smoking or taking drugs
And I've quit them
both, but, man, was it rough”
Unfortunately, many of the songs explore the blues,
and the twee indie pop doesn’t suit the grit of the blues. Lewis’ vocals are so
pure and light by nature and while the musicians find the spirit of the blues in
their delivery, the combination with the more pop elements is a bit strained.
This is particularly noticeable on the long and
bloated “The Next Messiah”; an almost
nine minute song where Lewis explores pretty much every classic blues riff, one
after the other. Every piece of it is well played, but stitched together it
felt a bit too much like an end-of-the-night bar band medley.
Johnathan Rice (from Jenny and Johnny) was on the
album, but his presence didn’t excite me. What did excite me was Zooey
Deschanel of She and Him singing backing vocals on a number of tracks.
Deschanel’s amazing vocals add a nice touch of sugar on the backing vocals
wherever she appears.
“Carpetbaggers”
has a nice rolling melody that reminded me of mid-eighties Tom Petty but the
moment was slightly spoiled by the warble of Elvis Costello making an
appearance halfway through. More Zooey, less Elvis!
The album ends on a high point with “Sing a Song for Them” an anthem for the
down and out. Deadbeat dads, weekend tweakers and “Boulevard freaks” all get a
shout out, among many other folks living a life less travelled, and often not escaping
unscathed from the experience.
The CD packaging for “Acid Tongue” failed to
impress. It is a simple slip of cardboard, making it impossible to put the
title on the edge. As a result, I rarely am inspired to put the CD version on
as I scan my collection. Most of the time, I don’t even see it.
Instead of liner notes, it comes with four pictures featuring
candid shots of the band recording the album. The shots didn’t look artsy so
much as they look like pictures not good enough to make it into your photo
album (back when photo albums were still a thing).
Overall, “Acid Tongue” has a few flaws, but it also
has its fair share of beauty, and Lewis deserves credit for always finding ways
to infuse new ideas into her sound. It doesn’t always work, but it works enough
on this record to warrant a solid 3 out of 5.
Best
tracks: Pretty
Bird, Acid Tongue, Godspeed, Sing a Song For Them
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