GENRE(S): Indie - Folk - Soul
PREAMBLE - Rilo Kiley's Fem Fatale strips off the polish.
LOOK: "Handmade" is the name of the game: when are we gonna get over this overused look in the do-it-yourself music scene? No stranger to this look, I've been guilty of making things look older than they actually are, or outdated (which make them look retro, so in turn makes them cool). This album is not a blueprint to those who are familiar with the same old Photoshop tricks though. It has one thing working for it... It looks un-designed. Trust me when I say: designing something to look un-designed is insert your own expletive here difficult!
LISTEN: Coming off the glitz and glamour of Rilo Kiley's "Under The Black Light", Jenny Lewis takes a Back To Basics approach, perhaps in the spirit of great bare-bones efforts such as The Beatles' "Lit It Be", while taking to heart such quotables as, "It doesn't make it mo' better when you add more junk" (John Fogerty). Unafraid to explore the boundaries of heartland rock, folk, soul, and blues, Miss Lewis can contort her voice from howls to croons. Appropriately titled "Acid Tongue" this second album (see Rabbit Fur Coat) confirms what we've known all along: Though Jenny Lewis' exterior comes off as sugar-n-spice, if you cross her she'll cut you, watch you bleed, and then write a song about it.
SPEAK: 236 little icon-logo-like images of Lewis adorns the cover; 236. What does it stand for? Beats the hell outa me. I'm not one to delve into possibilities of hidden messages in album artwork. One thing's for certain, Jenny Lewis has a tremendous talent for songwriting, but most of all she retains an amazing ability to tell you stories with her lyrics. Every song a different story. Every song a different side to her. Perhaps 236 is the number of stories she's passed along to us. Most likely not, but it would be nice to imagine.
ALBUM GRAD: B
ALBUM COVER: -B
DO WE HAVE A FIT: YES
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