On The Line - Jenny Lewis: Review

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Jenny Lewis

is an American singer-songwriter who gained icon status in the indie music scene for numerous fantastic solo projects, her work as the front-woman for Rilo Kiley and her one time collaboration with The Postal Service. The last time we heard from her in studio album capacity was five years ago when she dropped her Ryan Adams produced 3rd solo studio album, the critically acclaimed The Voyager. After dropping three well received singles in the lead up to this albums release the indie community at large is excited for whatever Jenny has to offer. 

Review By Lavender:
I would consider myself more of a fan of Jenny Lewis than most indie fans, attributed at large to my love of her 2014 solo album The Voyager and a very soft spot in my heart for her backing vocal work on The Postal Service's Give Up, but I probably wasn't the most excited to hear this album I could have been. Even though I came away from all the singles positive I had a sense that a full length album full of songs that sounded like Wasted Youth would drain me.

Red Bull & Hennessy was a great way to return to the spotlight and I'm thrilled that it ended up being the lead single as I couldn't think of one more fitting. The song is a hard hitting and shimmering indie rock jam with a killer hook and great lyrics that is guaranteed to show up on my year end lists, and my enjoyment of the singles didn't stop there. Heads Gonna Roll was up next and despite its much slower approach I love the ballad approach and Jenny's performance absolutely shines here. On the slow burning but passionate hook she shows off one of the best vocal melodies of this entire project but the slow approach didn't extend perfectly to the third and final single Wasted Youth. The track is a decent one with jangly instrumentation and a decent hook but it just needs a little bit more, this was the track that had me worried that the album may underwhelm me with a niche mix of styles.

These are far from the only great moments the album contains, Dogwood is another excellent ballad with a slow but worth build that reaches a super satisfying conclusion. It has another great performance from Jenny that shines over the simple but effective backing instrumentation. Little White Dove does it in a very different way with bouncy guitars that are instantly catchy and it stands out in a way that makes it one of my favorites on the project as almost none of it is indebted to heartland and folky indie rock history. It's also the point I will chose to address the lyrics across this album which are fantastic time and time again. Even in some of the albums most taxing songs Jenny brings lyrics with a sharp emotional weight and genuine impression that paints the picture of someone who clearly knows what her message is. On The Line is one of the absolute best lyrical moments and is totally deserving of being the album's title track. It's an Americana ballad that hits all the right notes with loud and textured guitar passages backing up Jenny's excellent vocals blended perfectly into a heartland rock ballad.

After the singles the album gets off to a slow but manageable start with a handful of just okay ballads. Hollywood Lawn is an inspirational ballad with a slow and simple instrumental that is sweet and serves its purpose but fails to stand out in the big picture. It's followed by Do Si Do a looser ballad that has some dreamy elements but it doesn't quite stick the landing in a way that helps the track stand out. Even though nearly every song on the album has something redeemable about it there are a handful of tracks that ultimately miss the mark.

Party Clown is the ballad approach taken to its limit as the songwriting is horribly dry and the performance is borderline comatose making for an incredibly skippable track. Taffy is an airy piano ballad with basically no form or substance to be found. It may be the worst song on the album but for the most part that is just because of how uninteresting it is. Rabbit Hole is the albums closer and one of the only tracks I straight up didn't enjoy at all. It goes for a dancy and upbeat vibe that comes off as terribly generic and the strangely literal and lackluster lyrics don't tend to help it out much, It's a shame as Rabbit Hole closes off the album on a disappointing note.

In conclusion Jenny's return to the studio album world hits some moments that remind everyone exactly why we love her so much, but some of the details got lost in translation over the course of her long absence and her follow-up the The Voyager doesn't quite hit the same highs. Regardless On The Line is a decent effort from one of indie music legends that certainly does enough to satisfy after the five year wait. 6.5/10

For more indie music check out my review of Broken Social Scene's Let's Try The Latest Vol. 1 EP here.

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