:: Track Listing

1. It's a Hit
2. Does He Love You?
3. Portions for Foxes
4. Ripchord
5. I Never
6. The Absence of God
7. Accidntel Deth
8. More Adventurous
9. Love and War (11/11/46)
10. A Man/Me/Then Jim
11. It Just Is

:: Record Review

Rilo Kiley

More Adventurous
(Brute/Beaute; 2004)

Rating: 65%


I really wanted to like Rilo Kiley. I listened to some of the older stuff, especially The Execution of All Things, and it seemed harmless enough. It was catchy, fun pop music without much substance. But then again, it is pop music---it doesn’t have to have much substance. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something distinct about More Adventurous that just doesn’t click in that delightfully simple pop music way.

Of course, it’s my job to try and pinpoint that reason why it doesn’t work, so I’m gonna hazard a guess: “It’s a Hit.” Yep, that all important opening track. The song hits you over the head with a baseball bat; it's absent any subtlety or interesting arrangement. Frankly, there's no reason for it to have gone beyond the planning phase, much less on an actual album. It’s just terrible. Not that they do all that much to help themselves out after that. The tired orchestral arrangement and overwrought storyline of “Does He Love You?” made me check to make sure the band wasn’t actually still on Saddle Creek.

So why can’t I just say this album is worthless, give it a 13% rating, and go on with my meaningless little existence? Well, because it’s worth mentioning that Jenny Lewis and company don’t strike out completely; there are three really good songs, and then a couple of pretty decent ones, so not all is lost. “Portions for Foxes” is the album’s finest, riding a wave of power pop through genuinely interesting lyrics (gasp!). Lewis’s alternately breathy and commanding delivery is phenomenal, and the band turns on a dime. Blake Sennet’s only song on the album, “Ripchord,” also falls into the really good category. Basically just a solo affair, the tin-can production matches the solo guitar approach reasonably well, even if the song comes of as a bit too close to being an M. Ward b-side. “Love and War” rounds out the trifecta of really good songs; its abrasive guitar attack and bouncing drum line complement Lewis’ delivery perfectly.

So then we get to those few decent songs. I think I would really like “I Never” if it was Neko Case belting out “never” 27 times in a row, but as it is, it just feels like someone ought to have written some lyrics for the song (a vaguely original arrangement wouldn’t have hurt either). The album’s title track has promise but never really develops into anything. “A Man/Me/Then Jim” is reasonably interesting, but it sounds a bit too familiar (M. Ward used a very similar guitar line and percussion track on one of the songs from 2003's The Transfiguration of Vincent). The album ends with the terribly bombastic “It Just Is,” which leaves a rather nasty aftertaste.

So, what does it all boil down to? What great lesson can we learn from this occasionally engaging yet generally dull pop record? Rilo Kiley succeed when they stick to what they do best: fun guitar arrangements and relatively simple (and non-political) lyrics. If you don’t have what it takes to back up the talk, it’s probably better to be less adventurous. Peter Hepburn :: 27 July 2004 |