I've Got "Acid Tongue" in My Ears.

When I hear that a new Jenny Lewis Album is coming out- I automatically know that I will buy it-whether it be Rilo Kiley or a solo record. Her work is smart, interesting, and innovative; the latest in Jenny’s list of achievements, “Acid Tongue” is no exception.

Imagine Southern Rock n’ roll from a female perspective and you have Acid Tongue, a more sensual tribute to 1960’s and 70’s southern rock. Jenny Lewis follows up 2006’s “Rabbit Fur Coat”, an excellent album, decidedly blue grass in style, with a more rock n’ roll take on her alt-country, southwestern influences. Both the “The Next Messiah”, and “Jack Killed Mom” have a compelling and Cash-like darkness that hearkens to everyman.


More than a few L.A. music -scene vets contributed to Acid Tongue. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward of She & Him lend their Dixie quality to the disk on tracks “Pretty Bird” and “Carpetbaggers” to name a few. Zooey on backup vocals is no replacement for “Rabbit Fur Coat’s” Watson Twins, but her much huskier alto is a good compliment to Lewis’s affected mezzo-soprano. Elvis Costello chimes in on “Carpetbaggers” and Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes sings back up on several songs, including the title track.


Personal favorites on the new album are “Godspeed,” “See Fernando,” and of course, the title track “Acid Tongue.” Acid Tongue speaks of a turn away from religion to seek truth in nature and introspective drug experience, the album exemplifies the journey life takes while one is turning away from away from a more organized sense of spirituality and how relationships form and dissipate in the wake of such revelations. Jenny’s lyrics sing “To be lonely is a habit, like smokin’ or takin’ drugs, and I’ve quit them both, but man was it rough.”


Though I totally dig “Acid Tongue”, I must say it feels just a bit like “Under the Blacklight-Before I was Blinded.” Lewis admitted to using a few songs that were cut from “Black Light” on her most recent album, and it seems to me that A.T. is a better executed prequel to the Rilo Kiley predecessor.


KikiSay: Jenny Lewis's "Acid Tongue" is a no-brainer, download and enjoy.