Album Reviews

Jenny Lewis can be coquettish, seductive, aggressive, sweet, warm, nostalgic, empathetic and, yes, acid tongued— though it’s a literal reference on the title tune.

Lewis displays all of those qualities and more on this smart set of hard-edged, tuneful pop-folk-rock-blues originals that indicates an encyclopedic musical knowledge and a large record collection. Lewis leans on it, but never manages to get trapped in derivative quotes.

Whatever the homages, they’re tucked pleasingly under the skins of the tunes— glints of the difficult-to-place familiar chord changes, blues riffs and melodic devices she craftily utilizes.

For instance “Godspeed” sounds like a Bach-inspired Procol Harum song (except for the squeaky-voiced refrain!) and the lyrics even refer to a “lighthouse,” so the piano driven song sounds like it was inspired by A Salty Dog. There’s a false ending punctuated by a drum fill that just about quotes B.J. Wilson. Was that purposeful or a listener’s personal musical association?

The autobiographical title tune (side two track 2 on the LP set), reminiscent of “The Weight” is a great track to listen to first. It’s got a live vibe, a familiar yet unique melodic structure, transparent, “old school” arranging and production and a deceptively relaxed atmosphere. It epitomizes what Lewis aims for and more often than not achieves on every track.

“Pretty Bird” has a McCartneyesque mid-eastern melodic vibe, “The Next Messiah” segues a grab-bag of ideas from a one note John Lee Hooker vamp to Johnny Kidd’s “Shakin’ All Over” (covered by The Who).

The infectious “Carpetbagger,” with guest vocalist Elvis Costello, is out of Buddy Holly, Tom Petty and John Mellencamp among others but it too maintains its originality as it shifts through changing but familiar terrain.

She slinks and suggests through ballads and rockers backed by a talented, revolving group of musicians including former Beachwood Sparks guitarist Dave Scher, her boyfriend Johnathan Rice (he played Roy Orbison in Walk the Line the Johnny Cash bio) and many others with whom you might not be familiar, though some are well-known names like Chris Robinson, M. Ward and Zooey Deschenel, who’s better known as an actress but she’s also a musician.

The production is superb—if you think ‘60’s production was and we do! Most of this sounds and feels as if it was recorded live in the studio and all analog. I’ll put it to you this way: if this was a digital production, someone involved knows something few if any other engineers working with digital know.

There’s a warm, comfortable soundstage, absolutely natural sounding instrumentsm layered three dimensionally and plenty of studio air that infuses the entire production with a “you are there” quality that’s so rare today.

I was going to write that there’s not a bad tune on this 3 sided, 47 minute long LP that includes a free CD copy to load onto your iPod, but that’s way too negative: every tune on this record is great for one reason or other or many including smart arranging and production. Lewis’s performances strike just the right emotional notes throughout in a subtly understated, thoughtful style. She’s got an intimate, communicative style that’s sweet but not cloying.

This record will make you feel good for so many reasons, not the least of which is that this is a smart, brilliantly crafted, perfectly under-produced record that makes sound easy what must have been very difficult to pull off.

Highly recommended for every reason.