Welcome to the start of the NFL post-season! Once
again my beloved Miami Dolphins did not make it in, but I still love a good
football game. I’ll be watching today throughout the afternoon and early
evening, but first I thought I’d turn to music. As you know, I turn there
often.
Disc 1214 is… More Adventurous
Artist: Rilo
Kiley
Year of Release: 2004
What’s up with the Cover? Trees and houses on a hill. Maybe
this is San Francisco but it is such a rudimentary drawing it is hard to know.
I declare this cover…not good.
How I Came To Know It: This was just me drilling through
Rilo Kiley’s catalogue after I already liked them.
How It Stacks Up: We have four Rilo Kiley albums plus a
compilation of outtakes and rarities. Since I counted Pearl Jam’s “Lost Dogs”
as an album for stacking purposes I’ll do the same with that compilation. That gives
us five records, with “More Adventurous” ranking third.
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
If you like Rilo Kiley’s indie pop approach to life’s
philosophical questions on their first two records, then “More Adventurous” is
more of the same, albeit with a slicker and denser production.
While I didn’t like “More Adventurous” as much as “Takeoffs
and Landings” (2001) and “The Execution of All Things” (2002) it wasn’t because
of the production, which is artfully done and enhances the songs rather than
competing with them. It is that the songs (melodically and lyrically) are a
small step down. Fortunately, coming from the lofty heights of their earlier
records a small drop still results in an excellent record.
Jenny Lewis’ vocals have always had a bit of sixties
crooner in her, and songs like “I Never”
have an old school sway to them that makes them timeless. At other times, the
album defaults to various combinations of pop hooks, rock riffs, horn sections and
electronic back beats. The band is deft at combining these disparate elements
into pop songs that are toe tapping earworms. Underneath, Jenny Lewis continues
to demonstrate a mastery of writing thoughtful lyrics that demonstrate a keen ear
for character, image and emotional depth.
The opening track “It’s a Hit” is often noted for its unkind references to then US
President George W. Bush, but I like that Rilo Kiley isn’t content to settle
for that, expanding the dangers of ego from politics into art, and ultimately,
reflect back on themselves and their desire to write a hit. The lesson: we all
get a little self-absorbed from time to time and it is important to call
bullshit on yourself as much as it is to call it on others.
Jimmy Tamborello (aka Dntel) does some guest
electronica elements on “Accidntel Death”
(get it?) which work surprisingly well. I have a friend who is into electronica
a few years ago and gave me some Dntel music. It was OK, but so much better
when uplifted by Jenny Lewis’s vocals and thoughtful lyrics.
My favourite song on the record is the equally poorly
titled “A Man/Me/Then Jim” which
features a sparse production with light guitar pick, the slightest amount of
horn and some hand drumming to accompany Jenny Lewis singing about the slow fade
of love. The song is light and sweet on the surface, but the topics are about
frayed and collapsing love, and disenchantment with the world. It opens with:
“I had one friend
in high school recently he hung himself with string
His note said, ‘if
living is the problem, well that’s just baffling’”
And gets progressively sadder from here. With its
themes of isolation and quiet desperation it reminded me favourably of Paul
Simon’s “Slip Sliding Away”.
As usual there is one annoying song sung by Blake
Sennett. This one is “Ripchord” which
is a stripped down track with just guitar and voice that sounds like it was
recorded in a tin can. I generally dread Sennett’s contributions to Rilo Kiley
albums, but the least they could have done her is applied the same production
excellence to his song as exists on the rest of the album.
Overall, “More Adventurous” is another solid entry
in Rilo Kiley’s discography. The band only made four true albums before they split
up, but fortunately for us they were all good.
Best
tracks: It’s a
Hit, Portions for Foxes, The Absence of God, More Adventurous, A Man/Me/Then
Jim
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