Rilo Kiley

Rilo Kiley - I Never

Like George Gershwin's clarinet breaking the codes of jazz ripping the silence wide open at the beginning of Rhapsody in Blue, the voice of Jenny Lewis shakes the speakers with such blunt confidence and pure beautiful grace with the simple statement "I'm only a woman."

Straight out of a 1950s prom with a Sadie Hawkins theme, the song slinks with the bassline that decides to move at just the last second like a squirrel in the middle of the road. Acompanied by sweet and soaring strings, a jazzy vibraphone, and triplet heavy keyboards, Jenny Lewis is clearly the feature here. Her voice has that innocent yet almost broken, but still optimistic quality to it that is simply unmatched.

As the song expands into the midsection and into the final set of 6,023,583 "nevers", Jenny absolutely croons as she sways on "I-i-I-i-I-i-I-i" and you can't help but sigh and nod along and know exactly how she feels: "I never loved somebody the way I loved you."

My only complaint about the song is the false ending which kills a bit of the flow. For the love of God, SAVE IT FOR THE LIVE SHOW. The guitar harmonies are so perfect though. I guess I can't complain too much.