In 2004, Rilo Kiley released the album More Adventurous which I did not get wind of until now. I'm actually a little sad that I'm only becoming aware of Rilo. Lyrically, this album hit a lot of strong chords that have resonated for a very long time in people's hearts. It is a treasure chest of one-liners which are timeless.
This "alternative, indie, rock band" does not strike me as an alternative, indie, rock band though. The album's strength is in its vocals and lyrics. Intense subjects and catchy melodies leave me with poetic thoughts and another perspective of the ever expanding genre of indie. The song "Portions for Foxes" really taps into societal subjects like hooking up vs relationships, and then a song like "Absence of God" or "Love and War (11/11/46)" truly break content barriers.
The album as a whole plays out through my headphones like a notebook of life-long lessons. After intently reading the lyrics and reading about the band members' lives, I'm convinced that the group wrote the album together because the content never confines itself to one concept or idea. It breaks through many different topics like a sledgehammer intent on destroying imaginary walls.
Even though the album's strong point is its lyrics, it is still very respectable from an instrumental stance. Right around the same time of this release, The Postal Service was touring the United States with their tunes from Give Up, an album that pushed the bar on electronica & lyrically based sounds. It is apparent that Rilo Kiley was picking up on these ideas in More Adventurous, and Jenny Lewis, the lead singer of Rilo, was a singer on many songs on Give Up. So there is inevitably some overlap in styles. On More Adventurous there are subtle timbre effects from their keyboards which demonstrate their slightly electronic style, but for the most part the album is pretty traditional rock music.
I believe this album would be fun for a road-trip. It makes for good thought provoking moments, and it does not disappoint or annoy with its sound. It also offers a very diverse taste of sounds throughout the album which demonstrate the band's talent and understanding of music very well. One aspect of the album I truly enjoyed were the simple melodies that never seemed to get old.
Listen to Rilo Kiley's new stuff on Myspace, and don't steal this album off the internet. That is just bad. A lot of random tracks can be found on the Hype Machine as well.
-Cory Vogel
This album reminds me of high school, and I think it's pretty decent. I do have to disagree, though, on the lyrics. Jenny Lewis has a great voice and writes really good songs, but her lyrics have always really irritated me. They seem shallow, sleazy, and extremely trite... it's as though she can't really think of something proper to say. I also think her style follows that of Neko Case too closely, and her find her lyrics to be much better and her voice to be more timeless.
ReplyDelete-Jade
But. This is a good album. I think 'The Execution of All Things' is much stronger, and when I'm in the mood for something from high school, I usually go with that one. As a whole, it's REALLY solid, whereas 'Adventurous' wears on me, and I only like half the songs. Granted, the songs that I like, I REALLY like. The title track, for instance, is such an incredible song. Perhaps it's the peddle steel... I don't know.
Good pick. I could actually participate in this one.
Sorry. I don't know why my name is stuck in the middle of this comment. I wrote all of it.
ReplyDelete-Jade.
The song "More Adventurous" definitely takes a step into interesting instrument use. The Peddle steel and harmonica were pleasant additions to that song.
ReplyDeleteI also did get a sense of this album being more of a compilation of one-hit tracks rather than a solid album. I'll have to check out "The Execution of all things."
-Cory
I second The Execution of All Things. It's one of my favorite albums ever. When More Adventurous came out, I have to say I was a little disappointed. Execution is just so solid, and the instrumentation there is so diverse and interesting!
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