Sunday , June 13, 2010
Zooey Deschanel is my new favorite backup singer ever (plus an almost-review of Acid Tongue by Jenny Lewis, which you need to buy right now)
That's a lie: My favorite backup singer ever is obviously Mick Jagger on "You're So Vain." But Zooey Deschanel on "The Next Messiah" (off of Acid Tongue by Jenny Lewis, which came out Tuesday) is definitely my second-favorite, at least this week. She gives her croony voice to a bunch of the songs on Acid Tongue, but for me the moment when she starts singing that sweet little "I want to tell you I love you" refrain on "The Next Messiah" is maybe the most goosebumpy bit on the whole album. (It happens right around the 6:15 mark, and I'm not going to post the mp3, but you can go download it at The Leather Canary.) I also love her because we drive the same car (I saw her once at a bar, and lordy me: her skin really is that porcelain-perfect). And I really miss her as the adorably psycho ex-girlfriend on Weeds, and I'm so annoyed at myself for always forgetting to incorporate "Heart hug!" into my daily vocabulary.
Acid Tongue, by the way, is a shiny shiny gem, and basically the only thing I've listened to since around 8 o'clock on Tuesday night. That's partly because you really gotta let it grow on you, or at least I do: On first listen I was a little thrown off by the lack of "Hey, Jenny Lewis has been reading my diary!!" reaction I usually have to her solo stuff and Rilo Kiley's albums, but by second play I was pretty much over it. The record really is every bit the piece of early-70s-AM-radio gold every other review claims it to be, at least on tracks like "Bad Man's World" and "Trying My Best to Love You." And I love how Acid Tongue starts off with two mega-slow jamz, especially the oh-so-pretty piano ballad "Black Sand." A bunch of the less-than-glowing reviews seem to regard that approach as some kind of fatal flaw, but I think it's lovely and grand and just top class. Never underestimate the power of the slow build, dudes.
Tags: Jenny Lewis, Mick Jagger, music, the power of the slow build, Weeds, Zooey Deschanel
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Posted by Liz in Soundtracks |
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So what kind of car do you/does she drive?! Thanks for reminding me of "Heart hug!" :)
By Ann on September 25, 2008 2:57 PM
honda civic, man! but hers is black and mine is red, and mine is a '97 and hers is probably a little newer :)
By Liz
on September 25, 2008 3:29 PM
cool! im kinda so-so on the record, but the whole thing is a real jam live and in person!... which makes sense i guess, since thats how they recorded it. go analog, ya'll.
ps for LIZ, i was super bummed for your not-being-in-LA-ness when JL played those 2 back to back baby shows...you would have died in the hot, sweaty mess of it all :(
By emily on September 25, 2008 7:55 PM
Um you need to see how awesome this page looks for me:
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/8453/picture24if3.png
By Laura on September 25, 2008 8:19 PM
question.
I love both Jenny and Zooey and have been listening to Acid Tongue all week... I thought Zooey only sang in "Trying my best"...? She really sings in next Messiah too? anything else?
By p on October 7, 2008 6:49 AM
yes indeed. also: 'jack killed mom' & 'carpetbaggers.'
By Liz
on October 8, 2008 11:30 AM
my favorite back up singer of all time? i'm glad you asked. i'd been listening to dire straits' money for nothing a good ten years, and one day, i say to myself, that sounds like sting singing back up. and lo and behold, it was sting. i love it all the more for having discovered it myself. i bet that's the way columbus felt about discovering india.
By the good doctor on December 14, 2008 9:57 PM