Rilo Kiley

Under the Black Light

Released last month, Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight offers a new insight in to the band's influences and interests. It might be a stretch of the imagination to think that a group whose members play for other indie big-names like The Postal Service and The Elected would make an album featuring songs inspired by disco, early 90's electronic pop gospel and Gloria Estefan. The beautiful thing? It all works.

Highlights of the album include the dirty bass line and edgy guitar work of "Moneymaker," the album's first single, whose video features actual porn stars who originally thought they were auditioning for a soft core video. The track list continues on featuring the most upbeat lost-love song "Breakin' Up" which, for some reason, really makes me want to put on my roller skates and long for the days of Roll-On America. "Dejalo" calls on two major influences, sounding like an homage to Gloria Estefan during the break down and nodding to Blondie's "Rapture" with a similar spoken-rap aesthetic. And if that weren’t enough, one can distinctly hear The Beatles in Track #9 "Smoke Detector" which leaves the listener feeling like they should have learned the smoke detector when they learned the cabbage patch and the mashed potato.

Despite all these influences, Rilo Kiley still remains true to their sound and offers yet another opportunity to showcase Jenny Lewis' crystal clear voice. Hear it in person on Friday, September 21st at Avalon in Kenmore Square.

Originally published in Spare Change News 9/06/07.