Rating:
Download it from Emusic
Digg this article
Add to del.icio.us
The production is arresting: The engineers-- primarily Bright Eyes guy Mike Mogis-- are always ready for Jenny Lewis' close-ups, from the soaring a cappella opening track to the acoustic ballads, where they adoringly catch the strengths and nuances of her crisp, clear alto. The Watson Twins also earn their album co-credit with big gospel harmonies. (And the twin thing doesn't hurt: dig their Shining-esque pose on the front cover.) The twins are a winning addition to every song on which they appear, although they sound so good that you start to take them for granted. It's not that they sound good here, so much as they would sound good anywhere; they could back up Khanate and still turn heads.
But on repeated listens, the songwriting makes the album lukewarm. The melodies feel textbook, and the lyrics disappoint; they're often unwieldy (like the flurries of multisyllabic words on "You Are What You Love") or vaguely nonsensical (the title song seems heartbreaking, but just try to parse it). This material lacks the grace or the wit that could make the songs sizzle: a line like, "When you're sleeping with someone who doesn't get you/ You're gonna hate yourself in the morning," lacks the clean punch of, say, "I may hate myself in the morning/ But I'm gonna love you tonight." (It's not even a "This One's for the Girls".)
While the spare acoustic arrangements suit Lewis' voice, they don't lend themselves to the hooks and idiosyncracies that made Rilo Kiley. Lewis put far more on the line in her band's "I Never", and although that song has a bit of kitsch, its ruby red cowboy boots stomp on the toes of most of this album. In fact, more than any indie country album in months, Rabbit Fur Coat makes me question why indie singers put on their cowboy hats in the first place. The classy folk and Americana that Lewis invokes here never goes deeper than an aesthetic decision, and she's better at talking about bad times than bringing them to life-- or making them go away.
That's also why the lone cover on the record, of the Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care", doesn't bug me. Some Fork staffers hate this cut with a burning bile, especially when Lewis invites Conor Oberst, Ben Gibbard, and M. Ward to sit by her campfire and share the vocals. I just think it's cute that the quartet set themselves up as aged Bob Dylans or Roy Orbisons-- even if it's an easier sell to aim a few years younger and call them our generation's Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Stephen Stills, and, of course, Linda Ronstadt.
-Chris Dahlen, January 24, 2006
- Radiohead In Rainbows [CD 2]
- Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend
- Radiohead In Rainbows
- Rivers Cuomo Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
- Wu-Tang Clan 8 Diagrams
- Jonny Greenwood There Will Be Blood OST
- The Mars Volta The Bedlam in Goliath
- Cat Power Jukebox
- The Magnetic Fields Distortion
- Times New Viking Rip It Off
- Hot Chip Made in the Dark
- Daft Punk Alive 2007
- Beck Odelay: Deluxe Edition
- Michael Jackson Thriller: 25th Anniversary Edition
- British Sea Power Do You Like Rock Music?
- Burial Untrue
- Atlas Sound Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But
- The Simpsons Testify
- Pink Floyd Oh, By the Way
- Beach House Devotion
- High Places 03/07 – 09/07
- Interpol Live
- Ghostface Killah The Big Doe Rehab
- Andrew Bird Soldier On EP
- Black Mountain In the Future
- Xiu Xiu Women as Lovers
- El Guincho Alegranza!
- Lupe Fiasco The Cool
- The Mountain Goats Heretic Pride
- Nine Inch Nails Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D
- Fleet Foxes Sun Giant EP
- Drive-By Truckers Brighter Than Creation's Dark
- Goldfrapp Seventh Tree
- Morrissey Greatest Hits
- Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks Real Emotional Trash
- The Raveonettes Lust Lust Lust
- Los Campesinos! Hold on Now, Youngster...
- Jason Collett Here's to Being Here
- Jet Shine On
- The Honeydrips Here Comes the Future
Measured over the past 3 months (Last update: 3/5/2008)