The day I bought this next album
(unheard and entirely on spec) I did the same with Tom Petty’s new album, “Hypnotic
Eye.” It was a good day for guessing.
Disc 675 is…. The Voyager
Artist: Jenny
Lewis
Year of Release: 2014
What’s up with the Cover? Even Jenny Lewis’
torso is stunning, particularly in this kick-ass blazer. Other pictures in the
liner notes reveal that she has matching pants and guitar, which looks even
cooler. She’s like a female California Elvis.
How I Came To Know It: Sheila first discovered Jenny
Lewis as an artist, but I bought this album because it was new music by an
artist I already liked and the first single was promising – I hadn’t heard
anything else. Basically the way we used to buy music back in the day.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Jenny Lewis solo albums, plus one with
her working as one half of Jenny + Johnny with her boyfriend Johnathan Rice. I’m
gonna count this last one in the ‘stack up’, because I feel like it. I’ll
exclude the five albums she did as part of Rilo Kiley, though, because I feel
like doing that too.
Of the
four solo/Jenny + Johnny albums, I put “The Voyager” strongly in second place –
almost first. To know what does take first, you’ll just have to keep reading my
blog – possible for years.
Rating: 4 stars
Fifteen years in, Jenny Lewis has released her
purest pop record yet. And if you think pop hooks are simple and easy then try
writing one. It is hard to write pop that serves a song’s story, is pleasing to
the ear, and doesn’t rip off something you heard on the radio on the way to
work that morning. Jenny Lewis’ melodies are like water in a river; easy, free
and fluid; meandering at times, but never without direction.
“The Voyager”s opening track “Head Underwater, ”a fitting starting point for the river of songs
to follow. Both musically and lyrically this is a song that is uplifting, while
staying mindful of life’s many challenges. Jenny’s voice climbs up and down he
melody effortlessly as ever (until I tried to sing along, and found out just
how hard a song this is). The song’s chorus…
“There's a little bit of magic,
everybody has it
There's a little bit of sand left
in the hourglass”
…is an understatement. “The Voyager” shows that
while she might be thinking about her own mortality, Lewis’ talent is still
going strong.
The songs on “Voyager” are beautifully served by
producers Ryan Adams and Mike Viola. They manage to capture the simple beauty
of Lewis’ first record “Rabbit Fur Coat” but also incorporate the pop-infused
joy of her later work with Rilo Kiley.
Like a lot of Jenny Lewis’ work, the album has a lot
of introspection, but “The Voyager” has replaced some of the self-doubt of her
earlier work with some thoughtful perspective on her journey so far. “She’s Not Me” is thinking back on a
relationship that didn’t work out and “Slippery
Slopes” is about trying to make one work through whatever means necessary.
Most good albums will have a song that sneaks up on
you, and for me “Slippery Slopes” is
it. It isn’t a song about holding on despite temptations; it’s a song about
holding on through temptation. Booze,
drugs and ultimately other women all serve as the glue to keep from slipping.
This leaves you wondering whether you should feel sad for the song’s character
for her sacrifices, or happy she’s found love in an alternative arrangement.
The song bookends beautifully with the next track, “Late Bloomer,” which is a song about a
young girl meeting another woman in Paris (Nancy) and falling in love with her, even as Nancy is looking for the man of her dreams:
“How could I resist her, I had
longed for a big sister
And I wanted to kiss her, but I
hadn't the nerve
We found the writer, he was just
some kid from Boston
I was jealous as I watched him
talking to her
But man was I astonished, he didn't
look like no Adonis
But as Nancy had promised, he was
heavy as lead
And he said "Come with us
late bloomer, for a little while
We wanna feel that fire burning,
in you little child."
Unlike the negotiations of “Slippery Slopes” the sixteen year old in “Late Bloomer” soon moves on, never seeing Nancy or the ‘Non-Adonis’
again. Timing is everything.
Despite all this sexual ambiguity, the most
revealing song on the album is the single, “Just
One of the Guys.” It has a beautiful down-beat, a resignation established
by the music long before Jenny’s voice chimes in, beautiful like a canary in a
cage. The song is an ode to the sacrifices made when you pick up your guitar, let
the songs hit you, then hit the road, with the stars fading in the distance as enticingly
as those in the collar of your stage-blazer. Listeners with kids will no doubt
take a measure of schadenfreude when Jenny breaks it down to:
“There's only one difference
between you and me
When I look at myself all I can
see
I'm just another lady without a
baby”
But as one of the fellow childless couples out
there, I take solace in how she breaks the song down musically at the end and gives
a gentle rebuke to herself and all her doubts:
“I'm not gonna break for you
I'm not gonna pray for you
I'm not gonna pay for you
That's not what ladies do”
There’s a defiance there, and an arrangement that
mixes triumph and minor keys to subtly reconcile itself with the regrets of
missing the road more traveled. There’s lots of ways to be a lady, and lots of
ways to leave your mark; at the end of the day it is about the voyage, not the destination.
Best tracks: Head
Underwater, Just One of the Guys, Slippery Slopes, Late Bloomer, the Voyager
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