“Jenny Lewis - sooo hot,” yelled two early twenty-something males in their best Wayne and Garth voices, as Rilo Kiley took the stage at Higher Ground. Deemed as the new sex symbol for the indie rock crowd, there is no denying that Lewis, the Rilo Kiley frontwoman, is easy on the eyes with her illuminating throwback red hairdo, trendy clothes and petite figure. There’s also no denying she’s a darn good performer, displaying effortless versatility with her vocal range. Though she may very well go the Gwen Stefani route and end up in a trendy photo spread in Blender Magazine next to J-Lo and Shakira, her vindictive lyrics and new-wave meets western soul charm proves she’s no bag of fluff. Just ask Coldplay, who recently tapped Rilo Kiley to open their arena and amphitheater North American summer tour.
Every Rilo Kiley fan holds an obvious soft spot for Lewis, but credit has to be due for lead guitarist and co-songwriter Blake Sennett. Making like Conor Oberst, with his 80’s new wave hair cut and high pitched sensitive voice, Sennett was out to prove Rilo Kiley is as much his band as it is hers. Like another L.A band of days past, Fleetwood Mac, Lewis and Sennett who were once romantically involved, bring a Stevie Nicks/Lindsay Buckingham tension and grace to their band that makes for anticipating rock and roll.
Lewis’ Dusty Springfield styled soul on “I Never” and “Does He Love You” truly placed her strengths in the spotlight. And when the band kicked in the new-wave, anthems like “Portions For Foxes” and “Love And War,” the rest of Rilo Kiley: drummer Jason Boesel and Pierre de Reeder, showed the band can really turn out the post punk rock.
Contrary to their album title, More Adventurous, the show was played in straight, true to album form for the sparse Saturday night crowd. In one of the only ad libs, during the encore, Sennett asked “ this is our first time in Burlington, isn’t Phish from here?” As the crowd brushed off the question, in a “no way, not our town” fashion, Lewis clamored “well don’t worry, this song is about our hometown,” as Lewis and Sennett dove into a ballad about L.A. By balancing pop appeal with pure credibility, Rilo Kiley is sure to become a mainstay within their burgeoning scene, and it doesn’t hurt if Jenny Lewis is “sooo hot.”
