Jenny Lewis drops some ‘Acid’ on San Francisco

October 28, 2008, at Herbst Theatre

By Camille Ikalina Robles
Published: October 31st, 2008 | 9:10am

It was almost 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night in San Francisco, and I was sitting in a plush velvet seat in the historical Herbst Theatre at San Francisco’s War Memorial. It was soft and comfy, and I was sick, feverish, and cold, and in dire need of sleep. I missed the dimming of the lights as I lapsed in and out of consciousness between these fever dreams, but woke to the sound of a bird singing in my ear.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that this bird had taken human form, and she had wrapped herself in wide-leg denim overalls, a polka-dot tank top, and peep toe heels. She was the demure and petite Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis, whose red hair was topped with a big black hat. And as she crooned the words to a raw, bluesy version of “Happy,” a song from her 2006 solo album with the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love), it was not hard to imagine why anyone would mistake her voice for a singing bird.

But it was when Lewis took a seat at the piano for “Jack Killed Mom” that I felt the heat and grittiness of her sophomore release, Acid Tongue (Warner Bros.). And while Lewis’ songwriting on Rabbit Fur Coat explored similar themes of spirituality and doubt from a more candid perspective, Acid Tongue lets her characters run loose and delve into topics of sex, drugs, faith, and murder from a more direct and unapologetic point of view.

Accompanied by a stellar backup band — Jonathan Wilson, Blake Mills, and singer-songwriter (and boyfriend) Johnathan Rice on guitar, “Farmer” Dave Scher on steel guitar and piano, and Barbara Gruska on drums — Lewis was able to pass on guitar and piano duties for most of the show and fully transformed into her songs’ characters. Without the Watson Twins to back her up, “The Charging Sky,” “You Are What You Love,” and “Rise Up With Fists” morphed into hard-hitting, guitar-driven, bluesy rock songs. For “Carpetbaggers” and “The Next Messiah,” Lewis and Rice played off of each other’s energy as they moved back and forth between each other like the male and female characters in the song.

But it was midway through the show that Lewis’ voice truly came alive. In “Pretty Bird” her voice was smooth against a dirty electric guitar as she purred the words, “You go west for the black setting sun / You go south to the white spirit of earth / You go east for those real green eyes / You go north, walk the good red road.” An intro of bird sounds and soft crashing waves preceded the poppy “Black Sand,” a dreamlike tune that had Lewis singing high and almost childlike. But all the softness gave way to “The Highs and Lows of Being Number One,” a rocking bonus song on the Japanese version of Acid Tongue that Lewis explained, with a laugh, was about cults.

The most stripped-down song of the show and coincidentally the most magical was her new album’s title track. With only her acoustic guitar, Lewis gave her most vulnerable performance yet to a song that truly showcased her range as a singer and her talent as a songwriter. Surrounded by her bandmates, who stood behind her with their arms wrapped around one another and provided vocal harmonies, Lewis sang with the kind of vocal inflections that could conjure up feelings of reckless hope, loneliness, and regret in one sung word.

Even as the songs jumped from soulful twang to bluesy arrangements, and the intensity ranged from bare-boned a cappella to guitar-ridden rock stomps, it was Lewis’ voice that tied everything together. If her solo debut showcased her ability as a bright storyteller, then Acid Tongue proves that she’s got even darker and deeper stories to tell. And with a gritty, hard-rocking attitude like this, it’s fair to say this bird doesn’t mind getting her wings a little dirty, either.