Jenny Lewis is somewhat of a musical chameleon. Her first two releases, Take Offs and Landings and The Execution of All Things, with uber-successful indie band Rilo Kiley rested on a quirky charm that quickly became the band’s signature in the early 2000s. More Adventurous, released in 2004, was a genre-spanning hit that provided the band with exposure to mainstream success, while 2007’s Under the Blacklight found the crimson-haired songstress in seedier, hyper-sexualized territory.
But Lewis does best when she embraces the country twang she explored on 2006’s Rabbit Fur Coat, her first full album away from her Rilo Kiley bandmates. Unfortunately, her latest, Acid Tongue, only offers glimmers of this gentle Southern soul, and the album is often mediocre because of it.
What made Lewis so charming and approachable in her past works was the effortlessness with which she delivered her vocals. But this is long gone on Acid Tongue. What was once Lewis’ seductive alto is now a strained, shrill falsetto, and listeners encounter this immediately with album opener, “Black Sand.” It’s not as though Lewis is unable to handle this vocal range, but, unlike her quirky squawking on songs like “Science v. Romance” or “Wires and Waves” from Take Offs and Landings, the tin-can production and plodding instrumentals on tracks like “Bad Man’s World” aren’t enough to detract from these shrill vocals.
Lewis never really returns to the soulful vocals she offered on Rabbit Fur Coat, but songs like “Next Messiah” certainly come close. Although the guitar riff and bass drum intro sound far too similar to the lines in Under the Blacklight’s “Moneymaker,” this track finds Lewis sounding more like Loretta Lynn than Nancy Wilson, and her vocals soar to great heights whether she’s belting out “He’s the next messiah” or as she purrs “I want to tell you I love you.”
And the instrumentals on “Next Messiah” branch out further than those on the album’s first few tracks. Rather than a single acoustic guitar, a traveling bass line stomps harder than her past countrified works and accompanies Lewis as she coos alongside Jonathan Rice, her current beau.
“See Fernando” and “Carpetbaggers” stomp down the same path as “Next Messiah,” but neither reach the same level of soulful fury. In fact, many songs on Acid Tongue are watered down versions of “Next Messiah.” “Carpetbaggers,” which features incomprehensible guest vocals from Elvis Costello, sounds like a track John Mellencamp would have performed.
Still, toned-down Southern tunes balance out the album’s up-tempo, honky-tonk numbers. The title track, “Acid Tongue,” finds Lewis at her most vulnerable as she admits “You know I am a liar” in her very best soprano.
Acid Tongue is a middle-of-the-road album, both in content and quality. Its best moments are when Lewis performs in the extreme, whether embracing up-tempo stomp numbers or soulful, contemplative ballads. When she does, Lewis makes her talent known. Sadly, middle-tempoed tracks are the bulk of the album’s content, and Acid Tongue is only slightly unforgettable.
3 stars out of 5
