The Elected CD Review
The Elected
Sun, Sun, Sun
(Sub Pop)
Rilo Kiley’s other side project doesn’t have the “indie tart stepping into the world on her own” angle. On its second album, The Elected preaches more from the gospel according to the West Coast.
Headman Blake Sennett writes tunefully enough, and has a reaching-for-more-than-the-alarm yearning in his young voice to lend The Elected personality. But he didn’t find a manner in which to differentiate Sun from 2004’s Me First, much less from The Thrills, who at least have the advantage of being from Ireland. The sun in Sennett’s Los Angeles refracts like a headache off the sidewalk, turns the pavement virtually into a tarpit, strains his eyes, and fades his leather jacket. He’s coaxes little out of himself while piling on the instruments, namely, the poorly placed sax on the Weezer-ish “Biggest Star.” Sennett might say the word “fuck” sexier than GVSB’s Scott McCloud used the letter “X,” but this spring he needs to get a little easter.
— Steve Forstneger
Appearing: April 1 at Double Door (opening for The Magic Numbers) and April 13 at Metro (opening for Metric) in Chicago.
Click here to download “Not Going Home.”
