LA / LBC / OC
Long Beach’s Magic Lantern have finally gone and released a new sonic document after what seemed like an eternity of waiting. Eagerly anticipated by those who have been biding their time waiting for the band to get on with their uber limited cassette only and CD-R releases (their Self-Titled CD-R was limited to 30), “High Beams”, the band’s latest opus [...]
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Reading all the negative comments on Rilo Kiley’s new album, Under The Blacklight, made me really want to like this album. I mean I wasn’t a Rilo Kiley fan from way back, so I didn’t have this preconceived notion of what their new album “should” sound like, instead I was coming into this release with a pretty clean slate.
Unfortunately I have to say that overall Under The Blacklight is more mis-steps than those in right direction. They do start their album off right with the blissfully melancholy opener “Silver Lining”, though it sets a false tone for the rest of the album which ends up being more Donna Summer than Fleetwood Mac. Track two, “Close Call” is another one of the album’s right direction tracks, continuing with the sad dark lyrics sung beautifully by Jenny Lewis, but it is with the next song, the album’s first single, “Money Maker” that Under The Blacklight trips up. In retrospect after listening to whole album many times over, “Money Maker” is actually one of the better mis-steps on the album, it’s funky Saturday Night Fever beat lifts Lewis vocals up out of their previous sad state. After that the rest of album slips pretty fast into mostly Donna Summer territory beginning with the song “Breaking Up” and only letting up for a couple of songs including the album’s title track and “The Angels Hung Around”, both of which bring back the acoustic guitar and flirt with a more Fleetwood Mac sound that we heard on the album’s opening tracks.
It’s a real shame that Under The Blacklight wasn’t a more cohesive listen, it has it’s bright spots, but just not ehough of them for me to recommend it.
Make up your own mind, the album is currently streaming on the band’s MySpace page.