Jenny Lewis: “Acid Tongue”

September 23rd, 2008 | 13:18

by, rigs

Although Ms. Lewis can easily persuade my libido towards seemingly any end, my sensible, less carnal side has a hard time believing Jenny Lewis, the child Hollywood star turned indie sweetheart, is as down-home, grass rooted as her solo career has asserted. Rabbit Fur Coat, her first effort where she teamed up with the Watson Twins was fairly convincing so, a little kiss from Acid Tongue might just do me in. Within the first few seconds of “Black Sand,” Acid Tongue’s polished opener, it’s obvious that production jumped up a few rungs on the priority ladder since Lewis’ last studio sessions as a solo act.

Acid Tongue remains true to Rabbit’s alt-country, gospel sound with the occasional Motown touch however, the instrumentally sparing accompaniment and under produced, unabashed vulnerability of Lewis’ vocals that we heard on Rabbit Fur Coat are forgotten on Acid. Fur Coat’s “Happy” and “Born Secular” not only highlighted the melodically vibrant and delicately soulful Jenny Lewis as a vocalist but revealed the cynical piety, emotional accessibility, and mordant storytelling ability of the once star of Troop Beverly Hills. Acid Tongue has strengths, but not those. The drums are loud. The strings are loud (and rarely necessary though frequently thrown in). And quite often, when the entire all-star cast is taking up all available frequencies, Jenny gets too far under the mix (if only the Acid Tongue ensemble included Phil Spector).

“The Next Messiah”, a nearly nine minute track, is Acid Tongue striving for a blockbuster composition. With four distinct sections, each one a slightly different expression of Lewis’ daddy issues, “The Next Messiah” packs a lot of sound and a lot of information. Approximately one minute in, Blake Mills partakes of the all too commonly partaken, yet practically unavoidable influential repertoire of The Beatles and slides into a riff evocative of John Lennon’s lap steel guitar lead on “For You Blue.” In the third section Jenny backs Benji Hughes with an undulating vocal line a la the Violent Femmes’ “Kiss Off,” repeating “I want to tell you I love you” until it develops into a choir of massive rock star proportions where the entire crew blasts the line in harmonic splendor. The song draws out for a few more minutes, kicking in again at the seven minute mark with the whole team singing along once again.

Lewis, in “Bad Man’s World” baits us with loosely delivered melodic whimpers, each one a sultry groan of sonic sex appeal and with lines like “It’s a bad man’s world / I’m a bad, bad girl,” I could have begun to waver with buckled knees and commenced crafting homemade Jenny Lewis Valentines… too bad. The overall over production of her voice, overtly going through various levels of reverb and post-production effects, brought me right back to reality. The string arrangement is like so many other string arrangements on Acid Tongue, poorly arranged, too high in the mix, and ultimately unnecessary.

Jenny’s comely vocals and crafty pen break through on “Pretty Bird” and the title track, “Acid Tongue” where she sings, “I beg your pardon / I’m not looking for a cure / I’ve seen enough of my friends in the depths of the God sick blues.” Harmonies with Lewis, Johnathan Rice, “Farmer” Dave Scher, Jonathan Wilson, and Chris Robinson on “Acid Tongue” are strong and especially captivating when everyone chimes in with “Man, was it rough” after Jenny sings, “To be lonely is a habit / Like smoking or taking drugs / And I’ve quit them both.” “Acid” ends with the reflective and beautiful refrain of Lewis belting out “I’m tired” with her respective guest singers joining in like a sympathetic Sunday choir.

“See Fernando” follows, but doesn’t fit on Tongue very well. “Fernando” more appropriately belongs as the B-Side to Under the Blacklight’s “Dejalo”.

Acid Tongue’s credits are teeming with talent and both recording and songwriting accolades. Benji Hughes adds a resonate low end to the vocal mix (in “Jack Killed Mom” I was almost certain I was going to hear a Waylon Jennings-esque aphorism about those Duke boys). Elvis Costello lays down a wonderfully strained vocal lead, full of conviction and spirit, on “Carpetbaggers,” a song written by Jenny’s boo and album co-producer, Johnathan Rice. Jason Lader is solid on bass guitar (he should have played on every track). On “Sing A Song For Them”, Lader fills the song with a melodic rhythm on the low end that fills, almost taking over, the song and provides a phenomenal compliment to Lewis’ vocals. Also making their way onto the album are Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward or more appropriately: She & Him.

Acid Tongue may not be what a lot of us were expecting because, honestly, after this and this and this, where is Ben Gibbard on Acid? After multiple listens, the album sounds very intentional, clearly a project specifically engineered and painstakingly assembled by Lewis and cohorts. Jenny Lewis has an uncanny ability to charm a listener. Through her intimate crooning and her intelligent balance of wit, cynicism, faith, love, and despair Jenny Lewis’ unassuming presence is the integral force of her newest offering. And with the kind of credits filling Acid Tongue’s liner notes, that says something.