AWmusic

I was definitely quite excited to hear Acid Tongue, her second solo album. I had to wait of course because I wasn’t important to receive a review copy like various other bloggers. I wish I could complain about the CDs being watermarked.

With Jenny Lewis’ solo effort, I was quite unsure what to expect. It well known that she used a ton of country/folk influences with her previous releases and that just seemed a bit hard to imagine.

The album starts off with Black Sand, showing off Jenny’s strong vocals that made Rilo Kiley and herself quite popular. It’s backed with a simplistic piano playing and she just shows off her skill but carrying this song. At this point I was impressed and almost giddy for the rest of the album. Solid stuff.

After awhile, I’ve come to the conclusion that the country genre just does not fit this album. It’s not country, it does have its elements but it’s more a “pop” record, the production is very tight and well refined. The quality is excellent and after doing some reading it makes sense to see Jenny Lewis comparing it to Under the Blacklight in that sense. Musically, it makes use of the piano in a more simplistic manner with country-esque riffs, along with the additional instrument such as the violin here and there. If anything, it does lack that raw feeling most people are looking for.

All the songs are solid, and they are many songs I dig. I really enjoy the track Godspeed, we get a very cute Jenny who squeaks “do” on the song throughout. It just puts a smile on my face when she sings “what are we going to do?”. She makes a seemingly small line stick out. I could go on forever on how great of a singer she is. I really liked the latter half of the album, from Godspeed on to the closer (Carpetbaggers, Trying My Best To Love You, Jack Killed Mom and Sing A Song For Them). It ends off strong.

I will admit I’m not sure I dig songs like Acid Tongue, Pretty Bird, The Next Massiah as much. I find myself not connected in any way to the lyrics. I just don’t feel the lyrics are as strong as Jenny Lewis sings them as. I wish she displayed more of that “acid tongue” like she does with Rilo Kiley’s older songs.

That’s pretty much all my gripes, I don’t like the song writing that much…otherwise I’m quite impressed and glad that I didn’t have to write a negative review (because I love her of course and the past few albums have been downers).

Pitchfork just hates Rilo Kiley/Jenny Lewis so I wouldn’t listen to them at this point. They suck with some artists in my opinion. I think this album will be well liked, if people give it a chance. It builds slowly and sometimes that happens when the latter half is greater then the first half.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Now let’s see if I get in any trouble for posting some tracks (sorry if I do):
Godspeed by Jenny Lewis

Carpetbaggers by Jenny Lewis (ft. Elvis Costello)

Black Sand by Jenny Lewis