I heard a snippet of a song from Rilo Kiley's The Execution of All Things a few months ago and it really grabbed me. I must have put it on my wishlist, because lo and behold it recently turned up in a stack of birthday presents from my baby. And it kicks ass.
Musically eclectic, lyrically intense, they're a hard band to pin down. (Yes, "they." No idea what the name means, but the woman with the beautiful, hard-edged voice is Jenny Lewis, not Rilo.) Sometimes they remind me a bit of Stephen Malkmus' post-Pavement output, sometimes they're much more folk-y and jangly. But just when you take them a little lightly, they hit you upside the head. From the title cut:
Oh god come quickly, for the execution of all things. Let's start with the bears and the air and then mountains, rivers and streams. Then we'll murder what matters to you and move on to your neighbors and kids. Crush all hopes of happiness and disease 'cause of what you did.
Phew.
