Music > Album Reviews

Rilo Kiley // Rkives

31/07/13

It’s hard to deduce what the motivation for the now defunct Rilo Kiley releasing a 16-track album of previously unreleased material, B-sides and rarities actually is, especially if you try to ignore the obvious, that it might turn out to be a bit of a cash cow for the less active members of the band than their former frontwoman, Jenny Lewis. Perhaps, as fans, we should try and attribute the motivation ourselves – it can be whatever we want it to be – just don’t mention the ‘M’ word. The album starts with what sounds like a footnote to their last release, ‘Under the Blacklight’; the lo-fi, under produced unreleased ‘Let Me Back In’ doesn’t set the stall out for the album, with fully produced, polished and explorative tracks about to come. The album is a good mix of country infused melancholy melody and alt indie epics. Tracks like the rarity ‘A Town Called Luckey’ rubbish the notion of Jenny Lewis eclipsing former lover, Blake Sennet and the rest of the band. The music of the track is right at the fore, insistent and emotive. There’s some of Jenny Lewis’ signature torment on the unreleased ‘All the Drugs’ and ‘It’ll Get You There’, depicting the transportive nature of narcotics. It’s like searching through an old satchel and finding an old pair of earrings you’d forgotten you even own, yet there are the inevitable rock hard half eaten packets of chewing gum. If one motivation became clear though, it’s that Rkives reminds you of why you miss Rilo Kiley.

8/10 Emma Garwood