Album Review: "The Voyager" by Jenny Lewis

The Voyager by Jenny Lewis

July 29, 2014

(Warner Brothers Records)

To be honest, Jenny Lewis has never actually been on my radar, but with the release of her latest solo album, The Voyager, she's popped up for a reason that you'd never actually guess. Surprisingly, the album cover for The Voyager drew me to the artist. Further critical acclaim and strong word of mouth prompted me to give the album a fair chance. I guess some promotional tactics really do work better than others.

Jenny Lewis actually has a huge discography and musical past, which makes her eventual breakthrough story all the more entertaining. She's released six prior studio albums (only two solo albums proceeding the release of The Voyager), with most of them obtaining critical success. With that being said, the albums were much less successful commercially -- none of them broke past 30,000 in first week sales. With The Voyager debuting at #9 on the Billboard 200 with 25,000 copies, Lewis has proven to be both a solid artist, and have a solid fanbase. Even with the severe erosion of album sales in the United States (both digital and physical), and extremely limited availability in certain regions (there's notably a shortage of the album in the Pacific Northwest), The Voyager has actually outperformed most of its predecessors.

But what's keeping Jenny Lewis afloat (other than her album art)? The quality of her work.

The album's lead off track ("Head Underwater") offers up a decently enticing palate of strummed instrumentals bouncing around desert brushed rounds of gospel tinged voices. Unfortunately, "Head Underwater" does not open the gates of The Voyager in the right way. It feels like a forced effort that, while encompassing the themes and styles of the album as a whole, feels rushed and just downright uncomfortable.

With hopes bordering on disappointment, going on could break the entire album. Thankfully it doesn't.

As the album intertwines between the next several tracks, it progressively gets a whole lot better, with cuts such as "She's Not Me", "Just One of the Guys" and "The New You" being among the album's finer pieces. With upbeat, psychedelic, country twinged guitar solos "The New You" is not only one of the simplest compositions, it's also your typical empowerment track -- which isn't always necessarily a bad thing. "She's Not Me" feels like it could potentially become a multi platform radio smash, with components that feel both special and appealing.

 

Ending on a high note (and the collection's self titled track), The Voyager comes together as a unique experience -- a smoothie like concoction of jazz, soul, classical and pop music bursting at the seams with colorful, southern California styled loops and beats. It's not the most original thing you'll ever hear, nor is it exactly an indie styled collection. It's one of those records that will be a common go to disc for listeners that are ready to stare into the blue sky and soak up a boat load of feelings.

74

Rating (Out of 100)

Positive

Your thoughts on the new disc from Jenny Lewis? Let me know in the comments below.