And this was how I got thinking about Rilo Kiley. One of my friends posted part of their first single from their last album, Under the Blacklight. I kind of lost track of the band after that record, because I wasn't entirely into the seedy '70s Los Angeles concept. I was pretty enamored of their first two records though, especially during my undergraduate days, and I saw them live at least four times during that period.
Rilo Kiley is not, and has never been what you'd describe as 'punk', and I don't really think that anyone would describe their band as feminist either. But I'll give them this -- they're fronted by Jenny Lewis. And she might not be punk or feminist either, but I admire and appreciate her songwriting. In her songs, Lewis refuses to represent herself or others as simple, one dimensional figures, and she fearlessly documents and tackles fear, anxiety, unhappiness, ambivalence, and lots of other messy, sometimes shameful emotions that most of us would probably rather not discuss, much less sing about. And so we invite you to enjoy Lewis's suffering on this snowy hump day.
Rilo Kiley: Live at the Ford Amphtheater from John Welch on Vimeo.
