Take Offs And Landings (More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley)

Member Name: Seres

Product:	More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
Date:	23/06/08 (92 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The magnificent Jenny Lewis; the songwriting.

Disadvantages: Slow and unimpressive songs in the middle of the record

Trouble on the horizon! Rilo Kiley were going under, after Jenny Lewis; singer and all-round fox, split up with Blake Sennett; guitarist sometime singer and floppy-haired folkie. With the two central members of the band not speaking to each other, the foursome decided to take a break from music entirely for a year, during which Blake made himself a side-project band called "The Elected", which worryingly suggested he was looking at moving out of the shadow of Rilo Kiley forever to concentrate on his low-fi country music instead. Jenny began collaborating with other bands, such as Cursive and most memorably The Postal Service, and the dozens and dozens of Rilo Kiley fans around at the time started to worry that Rilo Kiley were gone forever. But then...

Blake returned. Despite the incredibly hostile atmosphere surrounding the sessions (at one point Jenny hit Blake with a Bible) for "More Adventurous", album no. 3, the band came through and managed to get some songs made, somewhat incredibly. Even more incredibly, the band had managed to get a record deal with Warner Bros for the release, and it looked like this would finally be the album to break them into the public consciousness. Come 2004, and they were ready to release their new long-player to the public. And were met with nothing. For the third time in a row, they were ignored by the general public, although the album did get a few plays from "awesome" DJ Mark Radcliffe, which is something. But generally... nothing. Nobody really cared.

Which is a mighty shame, because not only is More Adventurous a step up for Rilo Kiley, it also happened to be their most radio-friendly album yet. Whenever the lead songwriter of a band goes through a break-up good things happen for the songwriting, and this was especially the case for Rilo Kiley. Jenny stepped up her game and wrote some of the most autobiographical and compelling songs of her career. "Does He Love You" is the strongest of them, a story told from three different perspectives, the song unfolds quietly with woodwind and dusty synths simmering whilst Jenny sings and the guitars grumble and nitpick. As the stories link up, the guitars pick up and join together with the tone of the song, which starts off optimistic but then goes sour quickly. As Jenny screams out the final twist of the song, they crash and snarl nastily, in a stunning finale which is both powerful and emotional, whilst still retaining a delicate sense of poise. It's an amazing song, bookended by two equally good songs. "Portions For Foxes", which follows, is the poppiest song the band have ever made, with duelling guitars that crash out together like giant Californian waves against a chiming keyboard. The whole thing is a giant charge of energy, which packs oodles (yes, I'm bringing back the word "oodles") of melody into every second, and Jenny sounds irresistible. "And the talking leads to touching/ and the touching leads to sex.... And then there is no mystery left" she pouts.

Similar in style is "Love And War ((11/11/46)", which is the most out-and-out rocky-pop song on the album. The guitars twist and turn, and the bass does interesting stuff which I can't describe, and the drums are... a little average, actually. Jason Boesel, resident drummer, doesn't get much to do on this album. But Jenny is pleading and screaming every inch of the way "why must you try to ruin my peace of mind??" It's the charge of the guitars that you'll remember. It's the last gasp of the album before the music succumbs to quiet balladry, such as "Accidntel Deth" (spelt like that as a tribute to Jimmy "Dntel" Tamborello, who produces the album to have a shiny feel) and "The Absence of God". Both songs are nice enough, with lulled guitars and whispery voals, but neither really does enough to justify inclusion on the record. They're two boring stops midway through the album, which stalls the momentum of the first five and isn't regained until the finale, "It Just Is". A tribute to the late Elliott Smith, the album ends on a beautifully poignant note of introspective full-string-section...ness. It's a song well worth downloading, even if you don't like anything else the Kiley have done.

Blake only has one song to sing, which is probably a smart move, and the track just so happens to be his best song yet. "Ripchord", another tribute to Smith, was recorded and performed entirely by Sennett. When played live, it's turned into a massive feel-good singalong, but here it's a quirky, creaky track which sounds nothing like the rest of the album, and is a joy for that reason. Make no mistake though; this album belongs to Jenny Lewis. "I Never" is an amazing song, held up entirely by his vocals, which sound like incredibly Neko Case. If you happen to not know of Neko, LISTEN TO HER. Although you could rest in the knowledge it's a little like Linda Ronstadt.

Anywho, Jenny waltzes across the song like a sultry soul singer from days gone by, and it's really awesome and the backing vocals (from members of Tilly & the Wall, fact fans), coo gently as Jenny powers above the guitars, string section, and woodwind. It's really quite astonishing. Much less beefed up is the title track, "More Adventurous", which sees the band play guitar, keyboard, chimes and harmonica, a straight-up country folk song, and is really rather pretty, due to the staged naivety of the lyrics and simplicity of the recording. "A Man/Me/The Jim" is another example of the phenomenal lyrical power Jenny has, telling three different stories which all somehow relate to the theme of love, although sadly the music accompanying is somewhat lacklustre, leaving Jenny to try and paper over the cracks with another gorgeous vocal performance. Speaking of, the album begins with "It's A Hit". All manner of instruments come out for the song, a non-too-subtle attack on politics. A grinding, workmanlike guitar line is overshadowed by jingles and jangles and, yes, fandle-dangles (don't you know what a fandle-dangle is?). It also features the trademark unexpected swearing moments that we've all come to expect from the band.

The band became properly friendly again during the touring of the album, and the rockiness was patched up. Blake and Jenny both went off with side-projects, and from the wreckage of the band's implosion came a new, tighter Rilo Kiley, who grew ever-closer to reaching global success. The album features many of the best songs from Rilo Kiley (I Never, It's A Hit, Ripchord, Does He Love You?), although sadly there is something missing from the record as a whole. Perhaps due to the infighting, a number of substandard tracks have snuck onto the tracklisting, and they serve to derail things and draw attention away from the truly great tracks. It's still a fantastic record, well worth investing some of your hard-earned dosh in, but in becoming 'More Adventurous', the sound that gained Rilo Kiley their original fanbase was starting to vanish, to be replaced by a new mix of pop rock and country. It was, overall, a bold move.

Summary: some of the shiniest pop-rock and country you'll hear