Album Reviews: New Rilo Kiley, Prodigy lack focus

More Adventurous
Rilo Kiley (Brute/Beautte)
Rilo Kiley’s fame should not come from singer Jenny Lewis and guitarist Blake Sennet’s forays into the world of Shirley Temple and Mickey Rooney (Lewis starred in Pleasantville, Sennet played tennis in short-shorts at Camp Anawanna on Salute Your Shorts), but rather their talent for catchy pop songs, sparked by the sweet voice of record store darling Lewis.

On Rilo Kiley’s debut album, Take Offs and Landings, and especially their superb sophomore album, The Execution of All Things, what was clear among the folky-yet-still-poppy guitar picking and electric strums was that voice: a matter-of-fact conversation with your closest high school girlfriend that erupted every few songs to a peak both sugary and substantive. Rilo Kiley put all their freeway dreams on that voice in their third album, More Adventurous, released Aug. 17th on Brute/Beautte (a small branch of Warner Bros.), possibly putting unduly pressure on the cherubic Lewis.
The advent of Warner Bros. has prompted the band to streamline their style, and the results, at least to this indie snob, could have been considerably more adventurous. Where there were once layers of synthesizers, guitars, Lewis’ serenade and Sennet’s complementary emo/indie voice, now Lewis stands nearly alone. Imagine the big solo at the high school play, and the spotlight hitting the girl with the good voice and no one else.

More Adventurous is Rilo Kiley at their tightest with instrumentation, which is a departure. The two previous albums had goofy interludes between songs; here the production is apparent and there is no time for messing around. Uninteresting hooks and rhythms are too common in the opening tracks, where the band on previous albums used to always shine.

Moreover, as much of a sweet surrender as Lewis’s voice is, it cannot flutter alone. Strong lyrics have always been one of their trademarks, but here there are lyrical moments so banal you shudder. “Does He Love You?” is as obvious as it implies, and I’ll leave it up to you to judge “Portions for Foxes.” Verse: “And the talkin' leads to touchin'/and the touchin' leads to sex/and then there is no mystery left.” Chorus: “And it's bad news/Baby I'm bad news/I'm just bad news, bad news, bad news.” Someone call Stephin Merritt, famous for his romantic music with the Magnetic Fields, because we have a 70th love song.

That was too harsh. More Adventurous, for its studio-ed gaffes, is still Rilo Kiley, which means treasures of indie pop, some of the best around these days. The title track is a soft and slow ballad to love, even marriage, as Lewis’s voice rises and falls over a steady acoustic strum and some tuneful slide guitar. It doesn’t just sound pretty; in line with the best of Rilo Kiley, Lewis sings with something to say: “And it's only doubts that we're counting/on fingers broken long ago/I read with every broken heart/we should become more adventurous.” “The Absence of God” is another easy comforter, as is the country lick of “A Man/ Me/Then Jim.” The wrenching lyrics of the latter really make you feel hurt. This is Rilo Kiley at their finest, with the words of a defeated romantic translated by that soft, soothing voice. And “Love and War (11/11/46)” pulses with their trademark pomp and pace, the standout “loud” track on the album.

What is curious and unfortunate here is the wall the band seems to have hit in writing catchy, captivating songs. The quiet tracks here are splendid, but where’s the smart pop? Maybe the formulated method at Warner Bros. needs to hit the road so Rilo Kiley can get back to talking about the modern age, swearing with sudden impulse, and not leaving the real adventure up to Jenny Lewis alone.
—Freddy Deknatel, Assistant A&E Edtior

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
The Prodigy (Maverick Records)
Remember 1997? It was a good year in music. In fact, it was a great year in music. 1997 brought us some true gems from the United Kingdom—Radiohead’s OK Computer, The Verve’s Urban Hymns, Blur’s self-titled post Brit-pop effort, Fatboy Slim’s Better Living Through Chemistry, and The Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land. While three of these artists have continued to create masterful music (and one band has broken up), The Prodigy were missing in action until now. In 2002, The Prodigy attempted a come-back with the single “Baby’s Got a Temper.” This single was a disappointment for Liam Howlett, the mastermind behind The Prodigy: At that point, already five years removed from The Fat of the Land, Howlett then decided to scrap the entire working Prodigy album.

Well, the day has finally arrived and The Prodigy is back with their latest Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. With the commercial success of the single “Firestarter” (the video was plastered all over MTV at its apex), expectations are certainly high. Seven years is a long time for The Prodigy to stay out of the spotlight. Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned has some great musical moment; unfortunately the album as a whole lacks direction.

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned sounds like a tribute to the electronic and dance scene of the last seven years. Throughout the album, elements of the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Orbital, and Primal Scream are ever-present. Yes, Howlett has been doing his homework, but The Fat of the Land was a break-through in electronic music in the mid-to-late-90s, whereas Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned seems stuck somewhere in the middle of a musical vortex.

While Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned lacks focus, there are some moments where you find yourself ecstatic to know that The Prodigy is back in action. “Spitfire” and “Girls,” the first two songs on the album, start things off with a bang! “Spitfire” pays homage to big-beat sounds (honestly, it sounds like it could have been on The Fat of the Land). It is a little strange that the actress is Juliette Lewis, roaring at you during “Spitifire” and “Hotride,” but then again this is a very eclectic album filled with a number of guest vocalists: Twista’s rapping skills get to shine on “Get Up Get Off;” The Gallagher Brothers appearance on “Shoot Down” winds the album down with a rocking closing track, in true Oasis spirit; and, of course, Liam Gallagher is there to tell us that “Our time is running out.”

Despite all of these special appearances, the song of the album, hands down, is “Medusa’s Path.” Howlett masterfully blends a work by Iranian composer Rooholah Khaleghi with hypnotic dance beats. This song is truly innovative as it slithers in and out between flutes and horns. It’s too bad we can’t say this about more of the songs on Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Then again, it’s good to have The Prodigy back in action. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another seven years for their next album.
—Miranda Kimball, A&E Editor