Right up front, there she is, Jenny Lewis, wi those barbed, broken sentiments an that voice captures the lonely middle-ground between defiance an resignation like nobody else.
Rilo Kiley are the kinda band to get obsessed with, y'unnerstann, an so I did, wakin up to More Adventurous, fallin asleep to Take-Off's And Landings an the aforementioned second album accompanying most every breath between.
S'what we do, us over-analytical, fairly-insufferable oh-so-sensitive types, we rally around the folks can articulate our inner wankery wi the kinda non-pretentious clarity we could never muster ourselves.
An if they can swear proper, well, all the better, sayin, all the fuckin better.
Jenny Lewis knows how to swear. Give the lass a fuck to fling an she'll tear the tin from passin buses. The Execution Of All Things is packed to the last note wi brilliantly ragged foul-mouthery, from that breathless "It's so fuckin beautiful" in "Spectacular Views" to the nigh-on incendiary "Sometimes when you're on, you are really fucking on" in "A Better Son / Daughter". Kinda swearin stole a man's heart one foul ol' evenin back in the Summer o' last year, lain in a filthy dead-eyed stupor an wi those perfectly spat obscenities as the strings done forced the legs to stand.
An yet only one "fuck" to be found in Rabbit Fur Coat, arrives via a cover o' "Handle With Care" by The Traveling Wilburys, performance assisted by M. Ward an, beautifully, by sweet, incomparable Conor Oberst.
Oh how a brain might bust under the strain of such a pairing.
An wi that the beat returns an yonder DJ wi the left fist pumpin.
Look at you there, ol' fella's shoutin, get the hell in an put some pants on, s'pishin down an you takin to the streets wi the willy an the arsehole at the mercy o' the lash!
But no, see, Rabbit Fur Coat, s'the kinda record wraps itself 'round a fella like a shroud, kinda record clothes an nurtures an feeds, hear me now, a man needs no jacket when "Born Secular" or "Melt Your Heart" are around for to cover the scars.
(An he's off scramblin for a Clash b-side might serve as a blindfold lest this horrific sight burn the retinas out his head.)
Article comments
1 - Steve C.
Yeah, it's a pretty great album. Mentioning Rilo Kiley in the same breath as Coldplay, though, seems kinda... I dunno, heretical or something.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Steve C, that's my point, heh. Who knew three albums of such beautiful unique glory would lead to a band openin for Coldplay, among the blandest rock bands a fella might ever encounter.
3 - Aaron Fleming
Another excellent piece of original vocal wordsmanship from The Duke.
She is indeed a starlet. I'm still waiting for that song about the kid playing Mario...
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
haha with backin from Fred Savage!
an thank you, also!
5 - Tan The Man
Very good album...
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Agreed, Tan.
7 - Steve C.
Of course. I'm an idiot.
In my defense, I was rather drunk when I posted that...
8 - Victor Plenty
I hesitated to mention this, not wanting to be pedantic about an otherwise keenly written review, but then I realized it's in the title and might adversely affect web-searchers' chances to find this fine writing.
Anyway, to the point: near as I can tell, there is no hyphen in the title of Rabbit Fur Coat.
Oddly enough, if there were to be a hyphen I'd expect to see it between the first two words (i.e., "Rabbit-Fur Coat") rather than where the Duke has placed it. But I expect that's just a difference in our national dialects of the language we both inherited from England.
9 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Victor, thank you for pointin this out! An yeah, most likely the hyphen business has to do with linguistic nuances. either placing works for me. rabbit-fur makes more sense, but then fur-coat is correct also. maybe rabbit-fur-coat is the only way to go about it, which is why Jenny & Co left the damn things out, by the looks a things.
10 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
de-hyphenated. Thanks again Victor.
11 - Victor Plenty
Or, like the Germans, we could just jam it all together: Rabbitfurcoat.
In any case, glad to be o' service to ya, Duke.
12 - DJRadiohead
Duke, finally got around to reading this. Wonderfully done. It almost doesn't seem write to call this a review because it's something more than that. I have a feeling you have captured the essence of the record and if you have well then I am going to have to have it but I am going to have to be careful when I get it because this record mixed with me and the wrong time will brew a cocktail of total devastation. Who am I kidding? That'll happen whenever I get it. I don't think there's any protection to be found.
The lows are so extreme that the good seems fuckin' cheap is my favorite fuckery on the album, I think.
13 - The Theory
good review man.
I, too, love the album. Between this and the new Neko Case (which is drop-dead amazing) it makes for a great spring!
14 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
DJ, thank you, you hit on what i try to do here, but very often fail spectacularly; the old "essence" thing. sometimes how a record sounds an how it feels in the gut are two totally seperate things, an some times the latter is the only way of figurin out what's goin on, anyroad?
Theory, thank you, i ain't heard that Neko Case record you mention, but i'll keep a couple ears out for it.
15 - DJRadiohead
I just noticed my hideous error in usage of the word "write" instead of "right." Shocking. Someone go delete that.
Duke, just bought the CD today. Haven't made it all the way through yet.