Jenny Lewis Makes Me Feel Funny Inside

Here's my review of the new Rilo Kiley album, Under the Blacklight. (Isn't Jenny so L.A. sexy?) Not sure when the full story will run, but I'm sure when it does, Some Old Reader will fire up his Gutenberg press and send me a letter about how I'm killing the newspaper industry. Sad thing is, Some Old Reader pays my salary.

She’s on the cover of every other music magazine. She’s lusted after by every other indie kid. A former child actor on Baywatch and The Golden Girls, she understands Lindsay better than you ever could; a current pop pinup with boy troubles, she probably has Britney figured out, too. She’s not yet a household name, but that has more to do with her desires than yours. A stunning redhead, she both loves and despises her native California — and loves to write about it.

Jenny Lewis, an actor-turned-musician, is the lead singer of L.A.’s Rilo Kiley, a modestly successful art-pop band with a small, feverish and incredibly hip fanbase. Lewis and her three bandmates (including ex-boyfriend, lead guitarist and writing partner Blake Sennett) recently signed with Warner Bros., making new album Under the Blacklight their true major-label debut.

But fans who fear the band has "sold out" shouldn’t worry: If anything, Rilo Kiley has sharpened its insider analysis of Young Hollywood and our obsession with celebrity. (Sennett was a child actor, as well.) Upping the voyeuristic ante are a few songs in which Lewis and former flame Sennett air out their curious relationship —before the tabloids do it for them. The album is almost always a sharp, sexy cautionary tale (pay attention, Paris), with just a few tracks that lose their bite.

At 31, Lewis is old enough to scold La-La-Land hellions for their wicked ways — but still young enough to remember how exciting being a kid in the pop-culture candy store used to feel. That perspective proves essential. Rilo Kiley recently cast porn stars in the video for The Moneymaker, the first single from Under the Blacklight. The vid, which is already getting serious YouTube attention, and the song are equally hot and horrifying...

"You’ve got the money maker, this is your chance to make it," Lewis coos seductively over lethargic drums and a sleazy guitar part courtesy of Sennett. Lewis isn’t scolding anyone for using their looks to climb the ladder; but she’s not putting sugary PR spin on things, either. It’s simply a matter of been there, done that, have the scars to prove it.

On the chiming ballad Close Call, Lewis gets a bit more dire: "Funny thing about money for sex, you might get rich but you die by it." She then adds, in her clear, soaring soprano, "It’s gonna be a close call," knowing full well that some people can live with selling their souls. On Smoke Detector, a hand-clap beat and a Beatles-esque melody contrast with Lewis’ bleak portrayal of L.A. club culture as a dance floor stuffed with chain-smoking youths. In the old days, kids did the Twist; now they do the Smoke Detector.

Rilo Kiley has recently been compared to Fleetwood Mac, and musically, that’s not so crazy. The band’s sound is intimate but poppy, catchy without trying too hard. But truth be told, the Mac comparisons stem mainly from the Lewis-Sennett dynamic, which on Under the Blacklight has a definite Lindsey Buckingham-Stevie Nicks feel. Lewis’ song aimed at Sennett is blatantly called Breakin’ Up, which opts for a glittery disco-ball beat and a taunting refrain of "Oooh, it feels good to be free." Sennett responds with the jangly Dreamworld, which has Fleetwoodian harmonizing and a nasty chorus: "The wedding bells won’t ring, but she could care less / How you exist, when you’re living in a dreamworld."

As much as Under the Blacklight dissects celebrity culture, ironically enough, it might also contribute to it. In fact, Warner Bros. is no doubt counting on Lewis becoming a bold-faced, summon-the-paparazzi star. But if I have very little faith in Lindsay Lohan, I have great faith in Lewis. Sure, she can do the Smoke Detector, but something tells me she also knows when to call it a night.