Before the release of "Acid Tongue," Jenny Lewis' latest CD, the performer made a YouTube video that flashed a toll-free number for people to call and listen to the album's title track.
Hearing the soulful song over the phone was as if Lewis was singing just for you. Well, she is.
She sings for you and everyone else, including the "boulevard freaks" and "housewives losing their minds," as she says on "Sing a Song for Them."
Lewis makes "Acid Tongue" an album to please the masses as she dabbles in various genres from southern rock to chamber pop.
The album is in a far different category than Lewis' solo debut, "Rabbit Fur Coat."
This time, she trades in her ex-counterparts, The Watson Twins, for bigger names like Elvis Costello and She & Him's Zooey Deschanel. Though, Lewis does keep M. Ward and Johnathan Rice around just as she did on "Rabbit Fur Coat."
With the influences of these big stars, Lewis loses the quiet, folksy spirit that stretched from beginning to end on "Rabbit Fur Coat."
Looking back on her career as the front woman of Rilo Kiley, Lewis has been known to be a bearer of musical surprises and a definite risk taker.
She took a gamble with Rilo Kiley, transitioning from the craftily narrated "More Adventurous" to the funk-pop fusion, "Under the Blacklight."
"Under the Blacklight" was not anticipated by die-hard Rilo Kiley fans, but it was well-received by critics and gained the band a larger mainstream fan base.
Whether Lewis is off on her own or with Rilo Kiley, she doesn't fall short when it comes to her songwriting.
She cuts deep with sharp-edged lyrics that span from dramatically self-absorbed ("Acid Tongue") to muscular and rough ("The Next Messiah").
The singer-songwriter isn't afraid to roll in the mud as she sings all over the spectrum, from addiction to politics.
She even sings about her mom on the high energy, Little Richard-esque song, "Jack Killed Mom," a song that violently and humorously defends the honor of her mother.
Because this isn't a folk album, the songs aren't as densely packed with complex verses.
On the happily reminiscent piano ballad, "The Black Sand," Jenny croons "on the black sand" over and over.
Though her lyrics will always serve as her greatest craft, Lewis makes a fair tradeoff by diversifying soundscapes instead.
She develops a genuine southern-rock style with dark, syncopated foot drums and electric guitar plucks on the beefy and rugged, "The Next Messiah."
On "Carpetbaggers," when Lewis trades off vocals with Elvis Costello, the English musician's distinct nasally voice is resurrected with up-tempo country.
"Acid Tongue" was completed in a mere three weeks.
Recording at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Calif., it is evident that much of the album was recorded live by how unrefined it turned out.
Nevertheless, the album does have a few cleaned-up tunes.
The two most polished and mature songs on the album are the ones that strongly emulate the Adult-oriented rock sound of Fleetwood Mac: "Godspeed" and "Sing a Song For Them," serving as the middlemen of the album's ranging styles.
"Pelican Bay," the bluesy-sexy song only available via the Web, is filled with reverb, lush vocalizations and a heavy bass guitar that sure to make you sway from side to side and snap your fingers.
Lewis has served as one of the greatest spectacles in music today.
Despite her well-known influences, she mystically pulls off a fresh sound with every album she creates.
As Lewis' musicianship grows, she is free to try anything and don't think she won't. She is a renegade ¬- and she isn't going anywhere.
Joe Stahl can be reached at jstahl@student.umass.edu.
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