Release Date: Sep 23, 2008
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: WEA/Reprise
Music Critic Score
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Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis, once merely a tart-tongued indie-rock pixie with surprisingly powerful pipes, has evolved into a sort of modern-day torch singer — a hip-swaying, soul-tugging chanteuse with a country-gospel heart. Acid Tongue, the follow-up to her folk-leaning 2006 solo debut, is girl-group bittersweet one moment (”Black Sand”), and roadhouse rowdy the next (”See Fernando”). ”Pretty Bird” recalls Linda Ronstadt circa ’75, while ”Jack Killed Mom” may be the best thing the White Stripes never wrote.
Review by Travis Woods.
She’s almost there. Not quite, but almost. As Rilo Kiley stumbles and sidesteps its conventions to explore new areas so does Jenny Lewis with her solo material. Thankfully, she does it more naturally and honestly than her band does. With a lot of guests in tow and a more soulful, edgier sound ….
Relish Jenny Lewis' Acid Tongue wherever it flickers. Inserted in the same juicy ear as 2007's glowing hook-fest Under the Blacklight, "Black Sand" draws its line through similarly piano-whetted tales of romantic dalliances. "Pretty Bird" then lands in Kate Bush's aviary. So begins the album's manipulative yin-yang, "The Next Messiah" walking a divine bassline before "Badman's World" wanders into pensive James Brown territory.