#everyone go listen to acid tongue by jenny lewis

[beatsheetromanroy]

dean went to a cobbler to fix a hole in his shoe and the cobbler took one look at him and said "i can fix that hole in you"

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Everyone shut up it’s time to listen to Jenny Lewis and get really emo about Simon in the first part of awtwb. Shhh. We’re thinking about a sad boy montage for Simon going to get his wings amputated right after breaking up w baz. U heard me.

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Jenny Lewis - Ithaca Times

Ithaca Times November 5, 2014

Jenny Lewis on Homework from Ryan Adams, Rilo Kiley LPs and Arena Shows with The Postal Service

By Chris Hooker

“I’m not the same woman / That you are used to,” sings Jenny Lewis on “Head Underwater,” the opening track off her new record The Voyager. The song tackles a range of problems: depression, insomnia, self-worth, and a desire to change. It’s basically a checklist of why it took six years to come out with a new solo album.

Since the release of 2008’s Acid Tongue, Lewis has gone through quite a few changes. Her band, the beloved indie-pop outfit Rilo Kiley, broke up after four albums. Her father passed away. She released a collaborative record with boyfriend Jonathan Rice under the moniker “Jenny and Johnny,” and reunited with The Postal Service, a collaboration between Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello (a.k.a. Dntel), for the highly anticipated 10-year anniversary reunion stadium tour. With all of that in her rearview mirror, Lewis is hitting the road in support of The Voyager, and will be playing Ithaca’s State Theater this Saturday, Nov. 8.

The Ithaca Times caught up with Lewis in the midst of all this to talk about her new record, working with big-name producers, the return of The Postal Service, and the bringing back the music of Rilo Kiley.

Ithaca Times: Hey Jenny, I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

Jenny Lewis: Hey, how’s it going? Ithaca is fences. I remember seeing that the last time I was here. I was opening for Phoenix years ago.

IT: Do you mean Ithaca is ‘gorges’?

JL: No, I think it was a play on that. There was something going on with the student population there. I think it was almost like a suicide prevention thing. I remember seeing those signs and thinking, ‘What is going on here?’ Then someone explained it to me. This was a couple of years ago.*

IT: How have the shows been going so far?

JL: The shows have been great. I’ve been touring since May, and we’ve got over 100 shows down at this point. We’re starting to relax a little bit. I’ve got such a huge catalog of songs from all of the bands I’ve been in and records that I’ve made. We are kind of feeling out what works in this context. But the new record is the centerpiece.

IT: How has it been taking those new songs on the road? Any favorites or highlights yet?

JL: I am terrified of the title track for some reason. I have a mental block. I think it goes back to when I recorded it with (producer) Ryan Adams. I added in a very strange timing thing in the middle of the song that I inevitably fuck up every time I play it. So, we’ve only played “The Voyager” three times because I’m terrified of it. But I’m willing to get over my fear for this next tour. I’m going to play that shit.

IT: That’s my favorite song off the record. What do you have to do to make that one happen?

JL: Oh, cool! It’s just weird because when you write something when you are alone in your room and you bring it to someone, it’s definitely malleable, but the structure is hard to get away from. So we added this arbitrary five count, which is great. There is a count like that in (Oasis’s) “Wonderwall.” [Ryan] gave me an assignment, he said, ‘Go write a song that’s your version of “Wonderwall.”’ So that was his contribution, that weird five count in there. We will have to count through it.

IT: It’s been six years since your last solo record before The Voyager. What took so long?

JL: Some come quickly, some come slowly. This one just intercepted with my own life, and I needed to take a moment, get off road, and take inventory. It’s weird, sometimes you go into the studio and the song is done in one take. But other times, you need to revisit the song in order to find the right vibe.

IT: Any songs on this record that took a day, or on the other side, months to complete?

JL: Well “She’s Not Me” was recorded in a day; “Just One of the Guys” took five years. That’s sort of the range and everything in between. For the title track, Ryan gave me my homework assignment on a Friday and I showed up on a Monday in the studio.

IT: Given the time it took to complete and the work you put into it, do you feel this is your best solo album yet?

JL: No, I don’t. I think my first solo record, Rabbit Fur Coat, was the exact opposite. It was recorded in under two weeks, and it was very easy to make. It just sort of rolled off the tape. I don’t think process necessarily determines outcome.

IT: The Voyager is your first solo record to come out after the break-up of Rilo Kiley. Did that change your approach in making it now that you are solely a solo artist?

JL: I just write songs regardless. It’s not so much with the songwriting process, but with the production because I was no longer woven to my rock band. I could really explore any kind of sonic texture that I wanted to, or my producers wanted to. We weren’t limited to making a side project folk record.

IT: The new album has production from Adams, Beck, and Jonathan Rice. What was it like to work with all those voices in the studio?

JL: They all have very different ways of working. Jonathan and I have been writing and producing together for years, and that can be a good and bad thing. I was on my best behavior with Ryan and Beck. I love them so much, I was kind of star struck. It was great. I learned so much from everyone and took away a lot of philosophical ideas with regard to recording music.

IT: With a lot of the songs I get a ‘70s-era rock vibe. Is that something you intended on?

JL: I’m never trying to recreate something from the past, although I listen to a lot of records that were recorded in the ‘70s. Sometimes I just write from a certain timeframe without even realizing it. I don’t know. I think that Ryan brought a lot of that rock and soul into the record.

IT: Songs like “She’s Not Me” sound like something out of the Fleetwood Mac catalog. Do you welcome a comparison like that, or is it too easy?

JL: I think a lot of people are compared to Fleetwood Mac now. It’s a great comparison. They were true pop song crafters. I am of course a huge fan. I absolutely love Stevie Nicks. I love those songs. So if being compared to great songwriters is the case, I welcome it.

IT: What has this last year been like for you with the new record coming out and The Postal Service reunion tour?

JL: It’s been varied. It requires a different set of skills to be a support person in The Postal Service. A side character, which I absolutely loved. It was the hardest and easiest job I ever had. With my own thing, it’s very different. They are my words, so I am out there speaking to something that is very personal. It’s taken me a second to find myself as a front-person again. With all the shows we do, I discover something new about the performance. It’s a learning curve, and I’m in the middle of it.

IT: Those Postal Service shows must have been incredible.

JL: Yeah, they were amazing. It was like one of those dreams that you have, but you are not naked in front of your classroom, you are standing in front of 15,000 people at Barclays Center. It was just, “How the hell did I get here?”

IT: Have you played venues that large before?

JL: Hell no, and I don’t know if I ever will again. So I’m trying to keep a snapshot of it in my mind. But strangely, during those shows, I was more comfortable than playing a very intimate, small show. We played our last show in Chicago at a very famous small venue called The Metro, and that somehow was harder for me than playing to 15,000 people.

IT: Why was that?

JL: There is a certain effect when you can’t see the crowd. It feels like performance, where as the next show, people are right up on your pedalboard and you can see their reaction and you can make eye contact. That can be a little scarier than looking out at a bunch of cell phones glowing in the distance.

IT: People must have just been pumped to be there. I remember those tickets sold out in minutes.

JL: People were ecstatic and so were we. We opened the set with “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” and even talking about it now, I have chills. Every single night was an amazing feeling to hear those opening notes and the reaction from the crowd.

IT: How much of a hand did you have in writing (The Postal Service’s only album) Give Up?

JL: Zero. I wrote not a note on the record.

IT: But was there something about that record that influenced you? It seems like the sound of Rilo Kiley changed so much in between The Execution of All Things and More Adventurous, and that was when Give Up was released.

JL: I don’t think so. I was a singer and a player in The Postal Service at that time. Everyone was influenced by that record when it came out. Those electronic sounds had yet to be explored in indie rock, so I think everyone was unconsciously referencing that record. I just identified as a rock band. From the beginning to the end, regardless of the change of some of the textures on the record.

IT: So was that a decision you made, to be a more polished rock band in between the releases of the second and third Rilo Kiley albums?

JL: I don’t think the word ‘polished’ was a word we would use, but I think it was the ability to work in nicer studios with nicer equipment. We went from making records in our living rooms and garages to working in legit studios with producers. We wanted to grow, and we were very eager to expand on every level.

IT: You are still playing some Rilo Kiley stuff on your solo tours. Why have you picked the songs you picked?

JL: I picked my favorites. My favorite songs. Some of them didn’t work when we were rehearsing. They felt too sad when we were playing them without the band. I didn’t want to recreate exactly what we were doing. These were our songs with the band and my songs as well. Having freedom to interpret them in different ways really worked. When you are in a band, everyone chooses the setlist. It was what everyone wanted to play, so my goal was to go through the back catalogue and choose songs that resonated with me emotionally.

IT: When you look back at the music you put out with Rilo Kiley, what sticks out for you?

JL: I think all of our records have some real heart and soul in them. They are a document of my life and observations lyrically. It’s hard to choose one. They represent such a finite amount of time. The songs I pull the most are the ones from The Execution of All Things and Under the Blacklight. More Adventurous, I’m having a harder time tackling those live, but I am still trying to figure out how to do that.

IT: Why’s that?

JL: They are so orchestrated in a way. The arrangements are so big that it’s hard to reinterpret some of them. But it is still relatively new for me.

IT: What does it mean to you to have been a part of a band like Rilo Kiley that is just so beloved by so many people?

JL: It’s amazing. You don’t see that when you are in the middle of something. You can feel it, we felt the love from our fans at our shows. But I don’t think you understand the depth of your experience and your songs in the moment. I’m so thrilled, and it’s a real privilege to revisit some of the songs.

IT: Thanks again, Jenny.

JL: See you in Ithaca.

[thefirsttimpressions-blog]

The Daily Listen: 3/20/19

The Daily Listen. Busy day of listening so let’s get to it.

American Football / American Football (LP2) (2016)

American Football is back with their third self-titled LP on Friday, so I’m giving a spin to their 2016 sophomore set, which I haven’t listened to in a long time. Despite that, it’s a record that I like quite a bit, one that’s a very pleasant listen. Sometimes, that’s a backhanded compliment of sorts but I don’t mean it in that way here. What I mean is that there’s a very warm sound and a great deal of care taken with this record, something that’s evident on the opening “Where Are We Now” or in the craftsmanship of the great melody and guitars on “My Instincts Are the Enemy,” which recalls that of Jimmy Eat World’s seminal record, Clarity. American Football (LP2) is the kind of record that you want to play on a bright, sunny spring day, and to the extent that a band like American Football can have singles, “I’ve Been So Lost Without You” sounds like one. Additionally, the acoustic textures on “Home Is Where the Haunt Is” are a highlight, as are the Explosions in the Sky/Appleseed Cast sounds of “Everyone Is Dressed Up.” Strong record that has me really excited for the new one.

David Gray / Gold in a Brass Age (2019)

This is the first time I think I’ve listened to a David Gray record in full in nine years, with 2010′s underwhelming Foundling being the last one. There was a time at the beginning of the 00s that I was huge into Gray, with White Ladder being on constant replay and then searching out his old stuff from there. It’s because of that that I’m happy to say that Gold in a Brass Age sounds like classic David Gray. The advance singles from the record were impressive, with “The Sapling” being a wise choice for both a lead single and opening track to the album, because it gets back to traditional David Gray sounds. I also dig the Bon Iver vocal effects on tracks like the moody “Furthering.” “Hall of Mirrors” has a bouncy energy and “Hurricane Season” is kind of gorgeous. All of this helps to make this the best Gray record since A New Day at Midnight. Gold in a Brass Age is the sound of David Gray with his groove back, and it’s good to hear.

Jenny Lewis / The Voyager (2014)

This is one of the best records of 2014 and is probably my favorite thing that Jenny Lewis has done or at the very least my favorite thing that she’s done as a solo artist. The Voyager starts off with a bang-up trio of songs, with “Head Under Water” leading off and sounding like it’s continuing in the same direction that Rilo Kiley charted on their final studio album, Under the Blacklight. It’s also one of the first times that Lewis fully embraced that sound as a solo artist. “She’s Not Me” is next and is one of the best songs Lewis has done in her entire career, sounding like a Laurel Canyon classic from the mid-70s. “One of the Guys” closes out the opening triple by examining the struggle of women trying to find their place in a male-dominated industry. "There's only one difference between you and me / When I look at myself, all I can see / I'm just another lady without a baby" is a heartbreaking line. Overall, The Voyager feels like Lewis’s most complete and cohesive statement yet. Rabbit Fur Coat was a super strong record but bounced around soundwise, and she was also aided by guests and The Watson Twins on a goodly chunk of it. Acid Tongue experimented a little more, and not all of it landed. But this record... it’s an instant classic. Even the “weak” (to use that term very loosely here) stretch is miles better than similar parts of, say, Acid Tongue, and I can’t wait to hear tomorrow how she’s followed this up with On the Line.

Action Bronson / White Bronco (2018)

Man... this is just a breezy listen for the fourth time around at around 27 minutes long with great production and entertaining lyrics. I don’t need much more than that from Bronsolino.

Mother Love Bone / Shine (EP)(1989)

30th anniversary today of the release of Mother Love Bone’s debut EP, Shine. Musicheads know the story of how MLB lead singer Andrew Wood died of a heroin overdose prior to the release of the band’s planned first LP, Apple, leading to MLB members Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament going on to form Pearl Jam in the wake of Wood’s death. Shine is a (brief) look into what could have been for the band, with “Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns” being a 100% certified classic track and the best thing here by miles, though you also see a playful side of the band with tracks like “Mindshaker Meltdown” and “Half Ass Monkey Boy.” Records like Shine and the Mother Love Bone compilation make you wonder what could have been if things had been different, while also realizing that the events surrounding the band led to the creation of one as iconic as Pearl Jam. That makes listening to a record like Shine about as bittersweet as it gets.

Strand of Oaks / Hard Love (2017)

Funny thing with these prep-work listens for new albums coming out: Sometimes you realize that your perceptions are different than you think. Case in point: I’d always thought that Hard Love was a stronger record than HEAL was, but these past two days have shown that impression to be flipped. Hard Love is still a really good album -- and “Radio Kids” in particular is majestic as hell and makes you feel like you could fight the heavens -- but it just feels not quite on the same level as HEAL was. “Hard Love” is a super solid opener, “Salt Brothers” has a foreboding feel that works for it, and “Cry” recalls Love Is Hell-era Ryan Adams, but I think at this point, I actually prefer HEAL to Hard Love.

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Jenny Lewis Talks New Records, Motherhood

Independent June 14, 2012

Indie Rock’s Darling Is Growing Up, Not Slowing Down

By Aly Comingore

It’s been 11 action-packed years since the release of Rilo Kiley’s breakthrough debut, Take Offs and Landings. In the time between, frontwoman Jenny Lewis has put her name to three additional Rilo recs, two lauded solo efforts, and an album alongside longtime boyfriend Johnathan Rice as Jenny and Johnny. She’s also sat in with and recorded alongside everyone from Elvis Costello to The Postal Service to Bright Eyes. A seasoned professional long before her music-making days, Lewis grew up in the spotlight, having spent most of her childhood occupying roles in film (Troop Beverly Hills), television (Life with Lucy), and commercials. And today, at 36 years old, Lewis is still showing no signs of slowing down. This Tuesday, she returns to Santa Barbara for a semi-acoustic show at the historic Lobero Theatre, and in the coming months she’s aiming to finish her third solo album. I caught up with Lewis last week to talk new homes, self-recording, and thoughts on motherhood.

What have you been up to lately? Well, after we finished touring for [Jenny and Johnny’s] I’m Having Fun Now we got home and I found that I really needed a moment. I’d been going pretty much nonstop for about a decade between Rilo Kiley and The Postal Service and my own records and then Jenny and Johnny. I needed some time to just ground myself and write some songs, so I’ve been writing over the past year and working on scoring a friend’s film. … And eventually I got bored with the idea of staying home and I started working on a new record of my own.

How far along in the process are you? I’m about five songs in. I started writing during the Jenny and Johnny touring. We’d come home for a couple of days, and I’d go into the studio. I was kind of just demoing ideas, and then I went back in more seriously earlier this year to finish and flesh out those ideas.

You recently bought a home. How has it been treating you as a creative space? It’s interesting. For me, I wrote so many songs in my old apartment — I lived in this rent-controlled apartment in Silver Lake for 11 years — so that was kind of my zone. There wasn’t much at stake in that apartment; I could go away for months, lock it up, and not worry about it. It was so incredibly cheap and I felt so incredibly safe writing there. When I moved out of there and moved into a house I was shocked by the creative process, just because I didn’t have that safety net, that comfort zone. I think it’s always an adjustment for me, but I do feel like ultimately I can kind of write anywhere. It just takes a second to get back in to the groove.

Collaboration has played a big part on both your solo records. Is that something you’re hoping to continue on album number three? I think so. I hope it will be the best of both worlds. I demo all of my songs on Garage Band, where I pretty much play everything — not very well, but I manage to hammer out a drum beat and a bass idea. There’s something really personal about those recordings, so I kind of want to take that feeling and bring it into more of a hi-fi setting, and then bring in some of my friends, like Blake Mills, who’s an amazing guitar player, or [drummer] Jason Boesel, whose instincts I really trust.

Your last record was done all to tape and had this really live, off-the-cuff feel to it. Do you think you’ll return to analog recording? You know, I’ve made digital records, I’ve made analog records, but I don’t think I can ever afford to make a record like [Acid Tongue] again. It was so expensive. For me, it’s a matter of combining the two. I definitely want the drums and the bass and the vocals on tape, but I also have to not be afraid to embrace ProTools at a certain point, just to keep the cost down, at least until I can build a studio at my house and have a tape machine and stuff. Then I can take the time that I need to take to make something right.

What’s the best part of going the analog route? It’s visceral — you can feel it. When something is coming off of a Neve board and being laid down on tape, it’s like a warm blanket for the brain. When you’re working in a digital form it’s so harsh; it’s almost painful. Your ears get more fatigued if you’re mixing all day. It’s really important at some point to turn off the screen and listen without staring at it.

A decade in, what do you feel like you’ve taken away from your music-making experience? I’ve learned a lot, particularly about communicating with people in a creative setting. I learned a lot with Rilo Kiley. We were so young and there was a romantic relationship and things got really tough. I think the communication really broke down within the band, so I’ve learned to just talk to people about what I want musically. But I’ve also learned how to express what I want because now I know what I want, and I know what I write and what I expect from myself and the people who are playing with me. It’s finding that balance.

Are those lessons factoring into the new material? You know, it’s interesting. A lot of the themes in my new songs I’m not really aware of until I record them and listen back. There’s this song called “Just One of the Guys,” and the bridge is: “There’s only one difference between you and me / When I look in the mirror and all I can see / Is I’m just another lady without a baby.” When you’re in your mid thirties, the cult of people who have children around you all want you in their cult, and they constantly ask you, “So when are you going to have a baby?”

Is a family next? I feel like, at this point in my life, the records are my children, and I want to be able to make more music and go out and tour it. If I were to decide to pursue that other part of my life I wouldn’t be able to do that. I’ve kind of decided where my priorities are at — but they still want me in their cult. They won’t leave me alone. People with newborns are so bummed out/happy. I’m all for it if that’s what you’re into, and maybe at some point I’ll be able to do that, but not now.

Tell me a bit about the tour. I originally set up this tour when I was going up to the Bridge School Benefit, and that’s an acoustic show, so you’re not allowed to have any electric instruments. I put the band together and built a little tour around that with this acoustic idea in mind, and then I had to cancel my shows because of a family emergency. So when I rescheduled I just thought I’d stick with that idea and work within this acoustic thing. I’ve done a couple of shows acoustic and it was really interesting to kind of break down the songs like that. So this is kind of that — there’s an acoustic element, but we have some drums and some special guests. It won’t be full rock-band style, but I think it will rock in a sort of skiffle sense, like early ’50s and ’60s rock ’n’ roll.