Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis (CD, Jan-2006, Team Love)

Rilo Kiley is a band I don’t understand, or, more precisely, fans of Rilo Kiley--unimpressive, forgettable. But this simple reveals my on-going inability to understand the mind of neo-hippies, yuppie-folkies, and vacuous trendies. Having said that—wow, do I like Rabbit Fur Coat. Giant Sand use to be the only band I could tolerate folk music from, so it was natural that as M. Ward rose I stood in his camp. Ward produces four tracks here and makes a gem of a cameo on her cover of the Traveling Wilbury's hit “Handle with Care.” I say all this to make it know that I value the collaborative work of M.Ward over that of Conor Oberst, who is perhaps the most over-rated, under-talented indie kid of all time.

Now, to the album proper. Lewis’ voice recalls Emmylou Harris and, at moments like in “Melt Your Heart”, the slow seductiveness of Hope Sandoval, formerly of Mazzy Star. And her lyrics are delightful--the tongue-in-cheek of “Rise up with Fists,” the toe-tapping hedging of bets in “The Charging Sky,” and the lovely self-critique of “You Are What You Love.” Musically, there isn’t anything here that you haven’t heard before but it is strictly meant to support Lewis’ voice and not to exist for itself.

Already this is becoming an album that baby boomers will buy not just to feel hip and contemporary but because they actually like it. So a whole generation(x) will soon find themselves listening to a record approvingly with their parents. Unfortunately, this will probably lead to more emo-songs to be written. Well, good with the bad I guess.