Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
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CD Details
Artist: Rilo KileyBrand: RILO KILEY
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-08-17
Music Label: Brute/Beaute
Soundtracks:
- It's A Hit
- Does He Love You?
- Portions For Foxes
- Ripchord
- I Never
- The Absence Of God
- Accidental Deth
- More Adventurous
- Love And War (11/11/46)
- A Man/Me/Then Jim
- It Just Is
Music reviews of More Adventurous
Music Review: Jenny's best work yet.
Rating: 5 Stars
Ok, I admit it. I'm crazy for Rilo Kiley.
Now, that said, let me be honest here. At first I was dissapointed with their new album, "More Adventurous". It just didn't reach out and grab me like I had hoped it would. I was annoyed. I was dissapointed. I'd almost say I was hurt, like a trusted friend had let me down.
The thing is, though, I fell into my own trap. I've said before that Rilo Kiley is one of the world's most underrated bands, and it is absolutely true. For a few, however, the expectations for this album couldn't have been any higher. You see, Rilo Kiley's previous album "The Execution Of All Things", while widely overlooked, and even insulted by the measly 7.5 review it was given by Pitchfork, was recieved by fans as a true masterpiece.
For me personally, I believe that "The Execution Of All Things" is as close to modern pop perfection as we are likely to find in this lifetime. I have never, never in my life been so quickly drawn into an album. Not only did it immediately catch my interest, but it KEPT it. It kept getting better, and better, and better. It still gets better every time I hear it. Some would laugh in my face for this, but I would give the album a perfect 10. It is, to my ears, flawless.
You see, like I said before, Rilo Kiley is terminally underrated. On the surface they could easily be mistaken for some one-off bubblegum pop group. The truth of the matter, however, is that Rilo Kiley offers some of the deepest, catchiest, quirkiest, most bittersweet and endearing songs you will find in today's music world. Rilo Kiley is headphone music. There is deep, lush production, hidden bells and whistles, and always surprising and unconventional sounds.
A rich blend of pop vocals, prog-rock inspired guitar, and a hint of country twang, Rilo Kiley's songs cover a wide range of emotions from the blistering heights of love to the crushing defeats and humiliations that it brings just as easily. Innocence, guilt, self-awareness, self-loathing, whimsy and tragedy, its all in there. Lurking around every corner may be a new, challenging question of life, eternity, hope, or fear. Unafraid to question the inner workings of the self, Rilo Kiley explores the human condition with a brash and sometimes confrontational honesty that is both bitter and refreshing at the same time.
If "The Execution Of All Things" succeeds at all these things, it is indeed true that "More Adventurous" does not. But once I got over the initial realization that this album could most likely never have surpassed "The Execution Of All Things", certain things about it started to jump out at me. It started to creep into my thoughts. Slowly, but surely, it began to take over.
"More Adventurous" does succeed on many levels. It is not perfect, and though it does not reach the utter brilliance of songs like "A Better Son/Daughter" or "My Slumbering Heart" from their previous effort, it does show some real growth on the band's part. Most notably, this album features Rilo Kiley's lead singer Jenny Lewis' best work to date.
Jenny Lewis is a bit of an anomoly. Seemingly shy and innocent, she can also be harsh and explosive. Though her previous work has always been wonderful, she takes many risks here and really stretches her range. Though lyrically "The Execution Of All Things" may reign supreme, vocally "More Adventurous" is in a whole nother league. Jenny Lewis truly shines, like Aretha Franklin, Liz Phair, and Patsy Cline all wrapped up into one. I tend to fall deeply in love with completely unattainable women(Thora Birch and Scarlette Johanssen come to mind), and Jenny Lewis has certainly become the latest addition to the list. If nothing else, "More Adventurous" succeeds in letting her truly challenge herself, and the results are nothing short of breath-taking.
Blake Sennett's guitar work is as inspired as ever, creating perfectly timed hooks and complimenting Lewis's work expertly, whether it is a soft country ballad or a fierce and agressive rock song. On previous albums he has had at least a handfull of songs where he provided lead vocals, but here he takes a backseat to his counterpart and limits himself to one. Whether his role in the band is truly changing remains to be seen, but his instrumental work seems not to have suffered in the slightest.
The album's highlights include the slyly seductive "Portions for Foxes", "I Never" possibly Ms. Lewis' best vocal work to date, the experimental and wierd "Accidntel Deth" and "Love And War" which sound as if they had been produced by the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, and perhaps the album's best song "A Man/ Me / Then Jim". The latter is a breezy yet haunting tune about the loss of innocence and crushing weight of the slow descent into unhappiness by a failing relationship. How a song so terribly sad could be so beautiful and catchy I'll never understand, but that is the genius of Rilo Kiley. Your heart will break, but you'll be smiling.
Ultimately, "More Adventurous" is not going to be remembered as Rilo Kiley's best work, but those caught in its grasp will surely never forget the feelings it creates. From a holiday for a hanging to the slow fade of love, Rilo Kiley will seduce you with its beauty and sting you with its unapologetic honesty. Whatever emotions they choose to invoke, you will be touched.
Description of More Adventurous
Japanese pressing of 2005 album scheduled to include one bonus track. Warner.Are they alternative-country rockers or alternative rock crooners? That was the conundrum following Rilo Kiley?s 2002 release, The Execution of Things, and with More Adventurous, the band?s first record with major label support, we have our answer. Jolted by the divinely pure vocals of Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett's howling guitar on prospective indie anthems like "Portions for Foxes," the Los Angeles foursome has two fists through the earth in their quest to depart the underground. It's obvious from the opening smack-talk sing-a-long "It's a Hit" that Lewis is the centerpiece of this 11-song pop consignment (leaving the capable Sennett to sing only the acoustic low-fi "Ripchord"), and the unabashed charisma that is her trademark infiltrates throughout?from rockers ("Love and War") to ballads ("Absence of God") to pop ("Accidntel Deth") to Dusty Springfield soul ("I Never"). And while the production is polished to radio-friendly, it fails to dull the charming accessibility of a band that wears progression as a badge. --Scott Holter
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