Jenny Lewis | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Jenny Lewis had her first taste of stardom when she was a child, appearing in a series of television shows and in films. As she came of age, she grew disenchanted with acting and turned to music, forming the indie rock band Rilo Kiley with Blake Sennett in 1998. Her work with Rilo Kiley drew upon the seediness of her native San Fernando Valley and nearby Hollywood, but she began to expand her horizons when she released a country-tinged solo debut called Rabbit Fur Coat in 2006. Rilo Kiley stuck around for another album, but Rabbit Fur Coat established Lewis as a formidable singer/songwriter in her own right, and her reputation only grew after the group split, thanks to the rustic Americana of 2008s Acid Tongue and the slick pop sheen of 2014s The Voyager. Born to a pair of entertainers in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 8, 1976, Lewis relocated to the San Fernando Valley as a child. Before she was ten years old, she appeared in a number of major commercials, and she wound up cast in Lucille Balls 1986 sitcom Life with Lucy. Guest spots in a variety of sitcoms followed in the next few years, culminating with prominent roles in two 1989 films: The Wizard and Troop Beverly Hills. Lewis acted into the mid-90s -- she wound up with recurring roles on the 1990 television show Shannons Deal and 1991s Brooklyn Bridge -- but after appearing in the 1998 feature film Pleasantville, she turned away from acting. That year, Lewis formed Rilo Kiley with Sennett -- the two were dating at the time -- Pierre de Reeder, and Dave Rock. After releasing an eponymous EP in 1999, the group replaced Rock with Jason Boesel and released Take Offs and Landings in 2001 on Barsuk. Another indie record -- The Execution of All Things, released on Saddle Creek -- appeared in 2002 before the group inked a deal with Warner to distribute More Adventurous in 2004. Just as Rilo Kiley was receiving a push from a major label, Lewis fielded an offer from Conor Oberst for his imprint Team Love. Lewis hired the Watson Twins as support for Rabbit Fur Coat, her 2006 solo debut. Greeted by positive reviews and a major media push, Rabbit Fur Coat overshadowed all previous Rilo Kiley albums, but it also wound up giving a boost to the bands 2007 album, Under the Blacklight. Released on Warner proper, Under the Blacklight was Rilo Kileys most successful record -- it wound up peaking at 22 on Billboards Top 200 -- but the band splintered soon after its release. Although the official disbandment wasnt announced until 2014, a year after the odds-and-ends collection Rkives appeared, Rilo Kiley never recorded together again. Lewis quickly turned her attention to her solo career, recording the rousing Americana record Acid Tongue. Written in part with her new partner Johnathan Rice, Acid Tongue debuted at 24 upon its September 2008 release. Lewis next teamed with Rice for Im Having Fun Now, a collaborative album released under the name Jenny and Johnny in 2010. Lewis hired Ryan Adams to produce The Voyager, an album that evoked the heyday of classic AOR. The Voyager debuted at number nine upon its July 2014 release. In 2016, Lewis, Erika Forster, and Tennessee Thomas formed the trio Nice as Fuck, releasing an eponymous album in June. Lewis returned to her solo career in 2019 with the March release of On the Line, which featured co-productions by Adams, Beck, and Shawn Everett. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 4 Title: Rabbit Fur Coat Released: 2006-01-23 Tracks: 12 Duration: 37:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Run Devil Run (01:07) 2 The Big Guns (02:32) 3 Rise Up With Fists!! (03:36) 4 Happy (04:15) 5 The Charging Sky (02:57) 6 Melt Your Heart (02:50) 7 You Are What You Love (02:52) 8 Rabbit Fur Coat (04:33) 9 Handle With Care (02:57) 10 Born Secular (05:08) 11 It Wasnt Me (04:11) 12 Happy (reprise) (00:47) |
| Rabbit Fur Coat : Allmusic album Review : The story line on Rabbit Fur Coat is this: for her first venture outside of celebrated indie sensations Rilo Kiley, singer/songwriter Jenny Lewis has made a "white soul" album, along the lines of Dusty Springfield or Laura Nyro. Which is why, of course, she brought in Kentucky duo the Watson Twins to provide bluegrass harmonies for the entire record. Which is to say that Rabbit Fur Coat doesnt quite live up to its billing -- especially when compared to The Greatest, Cat Powers genuine white-soul album that hit the stores the week after Lewis solo affair. What Rabbit Fur Coat brings to mind is not Laura Nyro but, perhaps inevitably, Neko Case and the stark, arty Americana intimacy of her breakthrough, Furnace Room Lullaby. Not that Lewis has Cases throaty voice or commanding presence -- she can growl and slide into notes, but at her core she has a small, fragile voice, one that lends this muted set of songs intimacy, even if it also brings them to the verge of cutsiness. And thats not a word that should be associated with Rabbit Fur Coat, an album thats designed to be a comforting late-night confessional, from rousing stompers like "The Big Guns" through the bluesy crawl of "Rise Up With Fists" to bittersweet ruminations like the seemingly autobiographical title track and the cheerful, gangs-all-here singalong to the Traveling Wilburys "Handle With Care." Musically, this hits the mark -- not only does it return Lewis to the country leanings of Rilo Kileys first album, it feels suspended in time and space, the perfect soundtrack to 2 A.M. But the spareness of its sound also puts undue emphasis on her writing, and while she can structure a song, she tends to overwork her lyrics, cramming too many words into a phrase and moralizing like a college sophomore ("Still theyre dying on the dark continent/its been happening long enough to mention it" or "Are you really that pure sir?/I thought I saw you in Vegas/it was not pretty/but she was," where the Watson Twins helpfully respond with "not your wife"). At her best, her songs have a grace and flow that obscure these flaws -- such as on "Happy," whose melody and attitude are not all that far removed from her most prominent booster in rocks old guard, Elvis Costello -- and -- even if theyre still quite prominent upon any close listen. And since Rabbit Fur Coat is an album thats designed for close listening, thats a bit of a problem, but as a pure sonic experience, its a moody, atmospheric listen that never gets quite as melancholy as it suggests and holds together better than any Rilo Kiley album to date. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 4 Title: Acid Tongue Released: 2008-09-21 Tracks: 11 Duration: 47:21 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Black Sand (02:53) 2 Pretty Bird (03:46) 3 The Next Messiah (08:47) 4 Bad Mans World (03:40) 5 Acid Tongue (03:54) 6 See Fernando (03:33) 7 Godspeed (04:32) 8 Carpetbaggers (03:33) 9 Trying My Best to Love You (03:07) 10 Jack Killed Mom (05:27) 11 Sing a Song for Them (04:09) |
| Acid Tongue : Allmusic album Review : Somewhere along the way, Jenny Lewis decided that she wasnt an indie rocker but that she was a lady of the canyon, a singer/songwriter spinning stories on her own instead of languishing in a band with her ex-boyfriend. By the time of Rilo Kileys too-eager-to-please crossover attempt Under the Black Light in 2007, being in Rilo Kiley was indeed languishing for Lewis, as the group muddled through tight-fisted funk harshly framed by an over-lit production. Acid Tongue, Lewis second solo album, acts as a rebuke to all the considered calculation and perfunctory polish of Under the Black Light. Nothing about Acid Tongue feels over-thought, a problem that plagued both Under the Black Light and her solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat, whose rustic country-soul vibe occasionally played like a studied pose, particularly as Lewis picked up on every one of Elvis Costellos overheated literary lyrical tics. Experience -- either life or professional, it doesnt really matter -- has sanded away much pretension within her writing, taking Lewis down to her chosen foundation: early-70s West Coast rock, rooted in country-rock but touching on gospelfied blues and R&B, pitched somewhere between Laura Nyro and Bonnie Raitt, colored by spooky ballads and sweeping strings swiped from early Elton John. As a solo artist, Lewis is a proud traditionalist, adhering to the constructs and conceits of classic singer/songwriters, which can come across as affectation if shes too careful to follow conventions, like she was on Rabbit Fur Coat. In stark contrast to that 2006 LP, Acid Tongue is open-hearted and thrillingly alive, an album thats all about a live band making a big, joyful noise in a small room. This was largely recorded live in a short span of time and it feels that way: when it rocks -- as it does on the furious "See Fernando" and "Jack Killed Mom," both picking up speed like a runaway locomotive -- its invigorating, while softer moments like the girl-groupish "Trying My Best to Love You" have a warm intimacy. Theres a communal vibe here, which is only appropriate as these sessions had a revolving open door, bringing in plenty of friends and guests, including old reconstituted hippies like Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, wannabe troubadours like Lewis boyfriend Johnathan Rice, both halves of She & Him, and Jennys idol Costello, who appears for a rip-roaring duet on "Carpetbaggers" and lends his protégée some of his Imposters, including drummer Pete Thomas who gives this a wallop. This old-fashioned jam session gives Acid Tongue a crackling vitality but whats remarkable about the album is how much more comfortable Jenny Lewis seems here, as both a singer and writer. The vigorous music undercuts any lingering stodginess from Lewis classicism but shes also shaken off the cobwebs on her writing, mastering an elusive, open-ended melancholy that makes "Black Sand" truly haunting and not wasting space even when "The New Messiah" spills out to upwards of ten minutes. Lewis isnt exploring new territory here; instead shes digging deeper, tossing out what hasnt worked and sharpening what has, finding a way to carve out a distinctive voice within a tradition instead of redefining the style. Thats tough work, as it takes time to hone those skills, but Acid Tongue is where Lewis finally pulls it all together and delivers one killer of a record. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 4 Title: The Voyager Released: 2014-07-25 Tracks: 10 Duration: 39:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Head Underwater (04:08) 2 Shes Not Me (04:09) 3 Just One of the Guys (03:51) 4 Slippery Slopes (03:38) 5 Late Bloomer (05:13) 6 You Cant Outrun em (03:30) 7 The New You (03:27) 8 Aloha & The Three Johns (04:04) 9 Love U Forever (04:28) 10 The Voyager (03:30) |
| The Voyager : Allmusic album Review : Lurking beneath the seductive, supple gloss of The Voyager lies a serious undercurrent of sorrow -- an undercurrent Jenny Lewis doesnt disguise but doesnt bring to the surface, either. Someone, somewhere broke her heart, and perhaps the culprit is Lewis herself. Regret and self-recrimination abound on The Voyager: its a tattered storybook full of relationships gone to rot, missed marriages, infidelities forgiven but not forgotten, wistful teenage memories fading in the face of adult disappointment. Whether the songs are autobiographical or not -- and theyre filled with seemingly personal signifiers, ranging from red hair and scars left from the San Fernando Valley to a philandering, layabout beau named John -- doesnt matter much, as The Voyager aims to strike a universal chord for ladies in their thirties watching the years slide by as they wait for boyfriends to commit or life to start happening. Its heavy midlife crisis material but The Voyager plays lightly, offering a warm balm of Southern California sounds. Much more than Under the Blacklight, Rilo Kileys 2007 stab at Fleetwood Mac-styled pop, this feels like vintage L.A. studio rock. Working primarily with producer Ryan Adams -- Beck comes aboard to give "Just One of the Guys" a narcotic sway, while Jenny collaborates with longtime partner Johnathan Rice on "Head Underwater" and "You Cant Outrun Em" -- Lewis indulges in the sunnier aspects of vintage yacht rock, occasionally dipping into the Laurel Canyon folk-rock shes specialized in on her own. Guitars roam wide-open spaces, couched in luxurious reverb and draped in strings; the rhythms often follow cool, steady eighth-note pulses; the surfaces always shimmer. Its such a sultry, soothing sound that its easy to ignore the pain that lies beneath but thats a feature, not a bug: on The Voyager, Lewis characters live for today without ever thinking that the world might pass them by, and having her music flow so smooth and easy, she illustrates how easy it is to get sucked into that alluring stasis. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 4 Title: On the Line Released: 2019-03-22 Tracks: 11 Duration: 47:13 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples AlbumCover | 1 Heads Gonna Roll (05:13) 2 Wasted Youth (04:13) 3 Red Bull & Hennessy (04:48) 4 Hollywood Lawn (04:35) 5 Do Si Do (03:54) 6 Dogwood (04:29) 7 Party Clown (04:09) 8 Little White Dove (04:49) 9 Taffy (04:28) 10 On the Line (03:49) 11 Rabbit Hole (02:46) |