A different direction for Juliette Lewis (Terra Incognita - Juliette Lewis)

Member Name: phillipsdj

Product:	Terra Incognita - Juliette Lewis
Date:	10/11/09 (35 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of truly great tracks

Disadvantages: One or two slightly average songs

It's the Summer of 2006, I'm in Hyde Park for the Foo Fighters gig - the support acts were Motorhead, a very forgettable Angels and Airwaves, and a band I had never heard of: Juliette & The Licks.

From the moment they walk out on stage it is obvious that Juliette is in fact Juliette Lewis, the star of movies such as Natural Born Killers and From Dusk Till Dawn. The Licks, and JL in particular, completely rocked the stage and for me a lifelong love affair was born. Loud, Quirky, Rock(y) - this band contained everything I look for in a group and boy could Lewis own the stage when performing, she may not be classically beautiful but when I saw her performing her songs with such passion I fell deeply in lust!

2 years and 2 LPs (You're Speaking My Language and Four On The Floor) and The Licks decided to split and pursue other projects. Out of these ashes rose the album Terra Incognita from her new band The New Romantiques.

Produced by Omar Rodriguez Lopez of The Mars Volta fame, this is a definite change in style for JL and Lopez' influence can definitely be heard - there is a definite Mars Volta vibe about a few of the songs and some of them have a slight Latin feel. The track listing runs as follows:

Intro (this runs into the next song)
Noche Sin Fin
Terra Incognita
Hard Lovin Woman
Fantasy Bar
Romeo
Ghosts
All Is For Good
Female Persecution
Uh Huh
Junkyard Heart
Suicide Dive Bombers

Highlights for me include Noche Sin Fin (very Licks-esque) and Hard Lovin Woman which in my opinion is a musical triumph - very mid-West, old school Blues and shows off her voice fantastically. Romeo did nothing for me but if I was to compare it to anything then I would suggest that the track would not seem out of place on a Bjork album.

As per usual, this album is available on CD or as a digital download from various outlets - HMV, Play.com, iTunes etc and with a CD available for around £9 I would definitely recommend this to anyone familiar with The Licks or Mars Volta and to anyone looking to discover a new band. It is by no means the perfect album but it has enough highlights to make it worthwhile.

Summary: Well worth a purchase!