Events

[ROCK] Jenny Lewis’s musical journey is a captivating one for those willing to listen. Her last album, 2014’s The Voyager, found her still signed to Warner Bros. – an awesome show of faith for a major label since Lewis’s albums aren’t huge sellers. But The Voyager was produced by Ryan Adams, and it showed Lewis in a light not captured on either of her two prior solo albums (2008’s Acid Tongue and 2006’s big indie hit, Rabbit Fur Coat), bringing her a bit closer to the polished pop of her prior band Rilo Kiley’s swan song, Under the Blacklight (2007). Adams seemed able to help Lewis bring her musical personality forward while allowing for a degree of polish that might help her break through to a larger audience. Which means that the storytelling remained eclectic, candid and page-turning-addictive, while the soundtrack served up just a pinch more ear candy. Lewis’s penchant for oddball tales delivered with her signature mix of dead-seriousness and deadpan panache is her most stunning asset (her sweet-spot crooning is a close second), and The Voyager brought all of it together and tied it up with a bright, toe-tapping bow. For her upcoming gig at Babeville’s Asbury Hall on Wednesday, July 25, Lewis will be road-testing some new tunes (rumored to be played on the piano) while also dusting off a hearty sampling of Rabbit Fur faves, a few Acid Tongue selections and – potentially – a trio of Rilo Kiley tunes. Lewis is nothing if not sassy, which is something anyone could see in her freckled face going back to her acting debut as Shelly Long’s kid in Troop Beverly Hills. But her transformation from a cute screen-test kid to the vintage-clad, adventuring singer-songwriter-bandleader she’s become is transfixing, and while there have been long stretches between albums, she tends not to disappoint when the time comes to release something new. If anything, the lulls between records are proof that Lewis isn’t in this to be “The Moneymaker,” which happens to be the title of a more well known Rilo Kiley tune. Instead, she seems interested in making music she can stand by—something we could use more of in this world. She’s also a member of a new wave-y fem-trio called Nice As Fuck and has been known to write some soundtrack tunes once in a while. Opening for Lewis next Wednesday is Cut Worms, the musical project of Max Clarke. Clarke’s full length debut as Cut Worms came out this spring on Jagjaguwar, entitled Hollow Ground, and reminds a bit of Elliott Smith with psych-pop influences and a lo-fi edge. Doors are at 7pm.