“Title track, Rabbit Furcoat is a classic campfire sing-a-long. I can really see Jenny with her acoustic guitar surrounded by 100 or so wide-eyed kids.”
“Title track, Rabbit Furcoat is a classic campfire sing-a-long. I can really see Jenny with her acoustic guitar surrounded by 100 or so wide-eyed kids.“
Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins – Rabbit Furcoat
Rabbit Furcoat is the debut solo album, well sort of, from the lead singer of Rilo Kiley, Jenny Lewis. The title credit goes to ‘Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins’, since Chandra and Leigh Watson from Louisville, Kentucky sing on nearly all of the songs. Jenny Lewis articulately sings simple truths from the middle class and it’s a Country album without the twang that has lyrics that any modern woman can instantly relate to.
The album starts with a 1 minute long vocal warm-up exercise. The lyrics, “Run Devil Run” are beautifully repeated about 10 times, but I couldn’t help but think to myself, “gee, what a strange way to start off an album”. Then again, it sets the album off with the idea of it being a sing-a-long. And you will sing-a-long!
The campfire cowgirl tune Happy is a real treat. You can nearly hear the fire crackling in the background. Somewhere in the first couple of verses there is the brilliant introduction of guitar feedback. Later, Jenny Lewis starts sweetly yodeling. It is fantastic including intelligent country-esque lyrics such as, “My mama never warned me about my own destructive appetite or the pitfalls of control”. The song develops and the musical textures build and build, making it one of the most memorable and inventively creative tracks on the album. Melt Your Heart is also another one of my favorites from this album. It has a lovely, delicate melody and Jenny’s voice echoes loudly over top while the Watson Twin’s “oooohhhhhh-oooooohhh”. Tear jerking lyrics like, “It’s bound to melt your heart, it’s like a valentine, from your mother,” and “When your kissing on someone who’s too much like you, it’s like, kissing on, a mirror”, it’s just brilliant. I haven’t been able to shake it from my head since I first hearing it over a month ago.
Title track, Rabbit Furcoat is a classic campfire sing-a-long. I can really see Jenny with her acoustic guitar surrounded by 100 or so wide-eyed kids. It is a very personal and very real story told ever so sweetly about Jenny’s up brining in LA. The albums biggest surprise is Handle With Care, a cover that was originally recorded by The Traveling Wilburys in the late 80s. This song guest stars Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) as Bob Dylan and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie) as Roy Orbison. If you’re going to go there, and do a cover, it better be a new adaptation and Jenny Lewis does just that. She brings a lovely female perspective to a really wonderful forgotten song.
Rabbit Furcoat contains 12 beautifully written and performed songs, however all in all, unfortunately the album doesn’t flow. In terms of putting together a brilliant first solo album, I think Jenny Lewis should have sought a bit more help from her friends. It seems to be a bunch of b-sides, stuff recorded at different studios over several years with all different equipment that she decided care-freely to throw on to an album. Despite this, I can’t help but praise the hell out of her, her voice, her songs, she is an absolute gem and I know because I met her. (Read the interview! – ed). There were countless wonderful moments on this album and some of the best songwriting that I’ve heard in years, which I normally honestly don’t pay much attention to.
Words: Zoe E. Gottehrer