Album Preview: The Elected’s “Sun Sun Sun”
Rilo Kiley’s two main performers both have solo albums coming out tomorrow. Jenny Lewis’ solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat has definitely received it’s fair share of discussion, and deservedly so. I believe, however, that it is unfair how little attention is being paid to the second release by a Rilo Kiley member slated for January 24: The Elected’s Sun, Sun, Sun. The Elected is the side project of Rilo Kiley’s Blake Sennett, who recorded much of this album while on the road with Rilo Kiley. The Rilo Kiley influence hardly dominates the album, however, as Sennett mostly takes a more country-tinged approach to his songs. Sennett has a nicely hushed voice and a penchant for writing great pop songs that incorporate gentle, folky americana; Sun, Sun, Sun is a very consistent album with next to no filler and a few standout tracks (I say “next to” no filler because the first and last tracks are under one minute and serve as an ‘intro’ and ‘outro’ that, though pretty, largely fail to further the album). One notable song is the soulful throwback “Did Me Good”, where Sennett turns up the volume and adds some brass and jazzy guitar; another strong track is “Fireflies In A Steel Mill”, Derek’s personal favorite song from the album. Also available for download is the over-seven-minute epic “Biggest Star”, which is the last “song” on the album (there is a 40+ second outro). Overall, Sennett’s sophomore release as The Elected is an interesting and conscious departure from the Rilo Kiley sound; Sennett boldly walks in to alt-country territory and stakes his claim as one of the sub-genres strongest pop songwriters. Sun, Sun, Sun is a very solid release, definitely deserving of my recommendation, and I further add that you purchase the physical album when it’s released because, as you can see from the above image, the cover art is gorgeous.
The Elected, “Did Me Good”
The Elected, “Fireflies in a Steel Mill” [highly recommended]
The Elected, “Biggest Star“