Rilo Kiley, ‘More Adventurous’
By user • Aug 26th, 2004 • Category: Album Reviews
Until now, Rilo Kiley had managed to dodge the memo Phantom Planet avoided: Bands with actors are not supposed to be any good.
Yet Warner Bros., their new label, must have better inner-office communication than Saddle Creek or Barsuck Records, and the message has finally reached the band.
The misleadingly titled “More Adventurous” is far from its namesake. Having dabbled in lo-fi folk pop with D.I.Y. sensibility on past albums, the California quartet has taken it one step further. Unfortunately, the step is toward Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn.
What makes the band’s disintegration into country-esque ballads most disheartening rests in the album’s first 15 minutes. If released as a three-song EP, it would rival the delicate yet rocking sound of the Blake Babies. However, throughout the remaining eight songs, only “Love And War” resembles the supposedly adventurous rock.
Instead, we’re left with acoustic ballad upon twangy acoustic ballad. It’s lucky when the occasional horn or string arrangement mutes the 8th grade poetry mistaken for lyrics.
Memo to Rilo Kiley: You’re from California, not The Ozarks.
Northern Star, Aug. 26, 2004
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