Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
Published August 18, 2004
Again, a story of an unusual intimacy via a telephone exchange. This is what the best kind of pop music can do. It's not just a story. If you're really taken with it, you can forget who you are. You live in the story. But that's only part of the magic. The music itself supports the suspension of your reality. While you're engrossed in this new world, you're also humming along, singing, drumming on the dashboard.
This happened to me a lot while listening to More Adventurous. The music shifts from power pop to folk to country-ish ballady things and back. It's great to hear a band play with so many textures. Not just guitar and keys, but mandolins, horns, vibraphones, orchestra bells, glockenspiels, mellotrons and strings. Lots and lots of texture. Jenny Lewis' sweet and expressive voice makes me think of Mary Lou Lord with a little Kay Hanley thrown in.
"Portions For Foxes" has that power pop thing where you're singing along with the very first chorus, already looking forward to the next. "I Never" begins as a country-ish ballad (that sorta wants to become "Hopelessly Devoted To You" meets "Ooh, Baby, Baby") that morphs into a string arrangement at the end, before laying out a dual guitar lead that's almost Allman-esque. Even guitarist Blake Sennett gets into the act with his solo acoustic "Ripchord". All pop music should be so internally eclectic. If there was musical justice, Rilo Kiley would be a household name.
Of course, you (mostly) can't change the world with pop music. But...you never know. Art serves many functions. One of them is building connections from people to other physical and mental worlds. Escapism? Yes, sometimes. But what I'm looking for is empathy.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
- Published: August 18, 2004
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- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
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Comments on this articleComments
thanks craig.
i hear the Amee Mann thing too. also, that singer from Eisley.
glad you liked the review, because only when i finished it did i realize it was 2AM (the coffee, so far, is not helping...)
Mark, it's a great review. Now that I have read this and heard a song from them on Duke's podcast I am going to have to have me one of these.
thanks. i'm still a little amazed that this band isn't more popular (though with the pathetic state of radio and whatnot...i shouldn't be)
And thus the reason so many of us have taken to the podcasting airwaves. I have gotten positive feedback from a couple of the things I have played on mine.
Passing it on... that's the thing.
But they still can't curse as often as Duke and I do, can they? :)
(I want satellite radio, too... someday...)
oh, i think they can.
but i'm sure that nobody'll be as good at it as you all.
not me, man- The Duke.
Are you an XM'er or a Sirius?
Mark, fabulous review, and another example of why you're one of my favourite music writers. and i'll go ahead now and admit that i don't have this one (the podcast track is from the album prior to this, The Execution Of All Things), but yeah, record shop tomorow, tail between legs, or it WOULD be, if it was a tail worth talkin about.
For songs with a story, Rilo Kiley's "Does He Love You" is a freaking masterpiece. Talk about a twist that slowly builds and builds as the song progresses. LOVE LOVE LOVE that song.
Oh and, aren't they fairly known? It always seemed to me they seemed to have acquired a bit of that "indie darling" status (not as big as Death Cab but close, I think).
thanks duke. hey, this particular cd is the only one i've got...and it was sent to me for nothin', so what kinda fan am i?!!
i've really got to get the others. maybe this weekend.
Mark, I bought The Execution of All Things today on account of it being the only one in the store (plus I did like the song Duke played) and I am planning to go to another store tonight to get More Adventurous. Well done, fellas.
I just bought it today. Listening to it for the first time. I like it from a 'broad strokes' perspective right now. I look forward to trying to digest it in a more concentrated sort of way.
picked this up yesterday, finally. god in heaven, it's beautiful. The Absense Of God is one of the best songs i've heard this year.
Rilo Kiley could make another 10,000 albums and they still wouldn't be fit to carry Elliott's casket. ;)
That was harsh. I like the album. I will keep my Elliott CDs closer but I am glad to have added Rilo Kiley to my vocabulary, if you will.
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Wonderful review Mark. I have been listening to this one for a few days now and I have been pretty impressed too. I am just glad I gave Rilo Kiley another shot because to be quite honest, I thought "Takeoffs and Landings" was far below average. This one on the other hand has that pop sensibility and attention to songwriting that Takeoffs didn't have.
Anyway, there is something about this band that reminds me of Aimee Mann a little bit.