Albums Of The Year: No. 4

RILO KILEY - 'Under The Blacklight'

Oh, Jenny Lewis, you cocktease! After two albums of getting familiar with Rilo's alternative country-pop sound, and Lewis popping off to do a folky solo album and collaborating with various indie stars of the new-country scene, the music industry's second-best Kiley throw everyone a complete curve ball by making one of the most diverse, downright sexy pop albums in years! In fact, it's not just sexy, it's bloody exciting, as EVERY track on this album is a different genre.

'Silver Lining' is sultry country-pop. 'Close Call' sounds like Sundays-esque 80's guitar pop. 'The Moneymaker' is an absolutely filthy song, with the music sounding like a porn backing-track while dirty Jenny harps on about showing you her arse and occasionally yelping "ahhhh" with either pleasure or pain... maybe both. If we're not bemused enough by now, 'Breakin' Up' is what Dolly Parton would've sounded like if she'd found a Casio keyboard.

Title track 'Under The Blacklight' starts as hip-hop before going all ballad on us, then 'Dreamworld' comes straight from a Molly Ringwald teen movie. It's so confusing, you don't know where you are half the time, and it's fantastic! The chorus of 'Dejalo' is Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita' in all but name, but gets all funked-out in the verses, which is such a bonkers yet brilliant combination you wonder why nobody's thought of it before. Then you get '15', a bluesy gospel-style story of a bloke who didn't know he was having sex with an underage girl. It's almost apologetic to it's protagonist, and done with all the seriousness in the world. It also happens to be catchy as hell, so be careful where you find yourself mumbling it in public!

'Smoke Detector' comes straight from 50's teen bubblegum pop, the kind of song you'd expect to find in an Elvis movie, most likely during a scene where 20 girls in sailor outfits dance the dive on a beach. After that we get another country ballad, before ending on the best techno hip-hop love song Martika never made! It's exhausting, and on paper an album that fleets between styles like this so quickly (especially such extremely different styles) should be a train wreck!

But this works beautifully, as each song is a wonderfully crafted little pearl. In fact, Rilo Kiley must be much more clever than me, which isn't hard (PREDICTABLE SELF PISS-TAKING JOKE!!!), as by switching styles constantly you're never given a comfort zone or pattern to lapse into. As it's all moving around you're always paying attention, and just when you start to relax it changes on you again. It's a great idea, and executed perfectly, drawing your attention to the brilliantly written songs.

After thinking I knew Rilo Kiley, this has really got me intrigued as to what they'll do next. Plus, if they hadn't made this album we never would have got Jenny Lewis in a catsuit!!!