Secret Meeting score: 86

by Phil Scarisbrick

Jenny Lewis is an artist who has spent her life filling different roles within the entertainment industry. Starting out as a child actress, she went on to form Rilo Kiley who disbanded in 2014, as well as being a member of The Postal Service, Jenny & Johnny and Nice As Fuck. During that period, she released three solo albums, and her last – The Voyager – came some five years ago. Now she returns with a new long player that reminds us just how great a songwriter she is.

OnThe Line was born in a period where Lewis had ended a twelve-year relationship with fellow musician, Johnathan Rice, as well as losing her mother to liver cancer. This sense of loss and reflection courses through the album’s veins – combining with a soaring Americana soundtrack to create a stunning record.

Featuring guests such as Ringo Starr, Beck, Jim Keltner, Don Was, Benmont Tench and long-time collaborator, Ryan Adams, the barroom jam feel gives the album a looseness that allows her words to take centre stage. As a former actress, it should come as no surprise that there is a theatrical element to her music, and opening track – Heads Gonna Roll – is certainly filled with it. Opening with a solo acoustic and Lewis’ vocal, the song builds around her in a way that you can’t help be captivated by.

Wasted Youth‘s lament of self-destruction is drenched in Ryan Adams’ guitar, rather ironically given his recently revealed douchebaginess. Don’t let that distract from what Lewis has done here though. The song is achingly wonderful, and the guitar work is one element that allows it to shine. Red Bull & Hennessey is another slice of classic songwriting, evoking Stevie Nicks at her anthemic best.

Little White Dove is a funk-laden romp that faces up to Lewis’ losses most directly, as she sings ‘Was it a dream? When you called me kitten and her majesty‘. The pop-Americana of closing track, Rabbit Hole, is another highlight as she takes aim at her former lover with lines such as, ‘It was a sexual kind of connection/With spiritual undertones/But boy, you had me second guessing/The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.’

On The Line may have taken nearly five years for us to hear, but the wait was well worth it. The whole record feels vital and timeless. So although there have been many incarnations of Jenny Lewis over the years, the current version is creating some of 2019’s best music.