Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight B+

In what may very well be their last album, Jenny Lewis and Co. turn out eleven nearly perfect 70's-rock fueled pop songs. With echoes of Blondie, Abba, and Fleetwood Mac, the electric guitar drives the action for the first time on a Rilo album. The lyrics, all written or co-written by Lewis, are as razor sharp as ever, but this time she's moved the microscope off her and co-founder Blake's on-again/off-again romance and on to a series of sordid characters and relationships all seemingly set against the backdrop of southern Cal. Stand-outs include lead-off track "Silver Lining", schizophrenic relationship kiss-off (and album-best) "Breaking Up", first single "The Moneymaker", and country-infused "The Angels Hung Around".

This album has grown on me with repeated listens, but long-time fans may be disappointed by the move away from the alt-country that early-on defined the band and the so-honest-it-hurts lyrics Jenny is known for. I read an article on 90's-era Madonna that said that, after Erotica, she calmly put her clothes back on and went back to work. This album has that feel. After More Adventorous and Jenny Lewis and the Thompson Twins' Rabbit Fur Coat, Lewis may have decided she's shown us more than she wanted to and calmly covered herself back up. Still, it's the more intimate songs that resonate long after the albums done playing. In Silver Lining she says, "I never felt so wicked as when I willed our love to die." Ouch. Likewise, "The Angels Hung Around" line "I've been whored and I've been gored" has that by-now-familiar Lewis ring to it.

But it's Jenny's voice that really moves Rilo Kiley out of the realm of indie-faves the rest of us will never care about. The combination of knowing and innocence just nails the intricacies of her lyrics, allowing our heart to break for her even as she admits it's at least half her fault. One thing that is (sadly) missing from this album is the undercurrent of hope in love that has marked the majority of Lewis's other work. There is a resignation in her voice that never quite lifts, even on album finale "Give a Little Love". B+ (Listen here)