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IFLTS: 'Wires and Waves,' Rilo Kiley

'Wires and Waves,' Rilo Kiley
From 2001's 'Take Offs and Landings'

'Wires and Waves' is an often forgotten Rilo Kiley gem. It's a simple theme -- distance, time and what separates people -- but the songwriting team (and former lovers) Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett have the power to take worn ideas and desires, and turn them -- through well-crafted words -- into creative images and stories.

Typical of early Rilo Kiley songs, this one features a driving bass line and textured guitar solos from Mr. Sennett, who is, without a doubt, one of the more interesting guitar players in the "indie" rock scene. (One could certainly argue that Rilo Kiley is now more mainstream -- they are signed to Warner Bros after all -- but when this album came out in 2001 on Barsuk Records, they were certainly indie and low-fi.)

I saw Rilo Kiley for the second time in March 2003 at T.T. the Bear's Place in Cambridge, Mass. It's a tiny club that holds maybe 300 people. The show was sold out, so my ex and I licked our stamped hands, and pushed them onto the hands of our friends to get them in. On that evening, the band played a slowed down version of 'Wires and Waves' that stayed with me, and a couple of years later, I had the opportunity to tell Sennett how much I enjoyed it. He said they only played it that way a handful of times. I considered myself lucky.


What song do you freakin' love? Write our next IFLTS. Send it to us at spinnereditor@aim.com

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Schiffany

Have any of you heard about the Patron Music in Motion Tour? It’s an amazing program that’s raising money for music education programs and rebuilding homes in New Orleans. A friend of mine told me that people won an all expense paid trip to Lollapalooza and they’re sending people to the Virgin Mobile Music Festival and you can even win tickets to the VMAS! I am totally signing up! You just create a fundraising page, at www.musicinmotiontour.com

August 04 2008 at 2:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply