...Rilo Kiley?
Not the Mickey Mouse Club: What do you get if you put two former successful child actors in a band? 'N Sync? S Club 7? How about an acclaimed indie-pop group? Singer Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett are the songwriters at the heart of bittersweet guitar pop merchants Rilo Kiley, whose latest album, More Adventurous, has had critics on both sides of the Atlantic searching for superlatives. Both spent their early years appearing in front of the camera in a variety of American TV programmes - Sennett made several appearances in the 1980s sitcom Family Ties, while Lewis was a performer in the children's show Kids Inc. So did any of her fellow Kids Inc kids move into music? At least one: Stacey Ferguson, now better known as Fergie of hip-hop funkateers Black Eyed Peas. A musical reunion between the old colleagues seems unlikely. As, sadly, does a cover of the theme tune of Sennett's old show. If only we could hear Lewis sing that "sha na na naaaa!" bit
The indie rock Fleetwood Mac: Rilo Kiley formed in 1998 and released their first (and best) album, the excellent Take Offs and Landings, three years later. But it wasn't all smooth sailing for these former telly moppets. Sennett and Lewis became a couple, splitting acrimoniously after two years but continuing to write music together. Fans debated on whether the music suffered as a result, which led to a teenage character on the indie- music-loving US TV drama Gilmore Girls comparing Rilo Kiley albums when trying to decide whether or not to go out with her own bandmate: "I'm going to play two Rilo Kiley songs - one pre-Jenny/ Blake breakup, one post. Tell me if you hear a quality difference."
No sell out: The band's first two albums (The Execution of All Things followed in 2002) have never been released in Europe, although that may change now that they've gone major and been embraced by the music press. More Adventurous saw Rilo Kiley moving from their old indie, Saddle Creek (home of their pals Bright Eyes), to major label Warners, and although this new album is not exactly Katie Melua, it's a little glossier than its predecessors. It's also been praised by such un-indie types as longtime fan Elton John. But the band insist that they haven't gone mainstream. "I see it as very much an indie record," says Blake Sennett."We're not trying to dumb down or sell out. We're still very much an alternative band."
