''Under the Blacklight'' is the fourth and final full-length

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

released by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Rilo Kiley Rilo Kiley ( ) was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Dave Rock. The group released their debut album ''Take-Offs and Landings'' ...

. It was released on August 20, 2007, in the United Kingdom - three years and three days after the release of their third album, ''

More Adventurous ''More Adventurous'' is the third studio album by American indie rock band Rilo Kiley. Released on August 17, 2004 by Brute/Beaute Records, a self-made imprint distributed by Warner Records, it was the band's major label debut. As of June 2007, ...

''.

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

released the album one day later in the United States. "Silver Lining" was No. 27 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

Album history

The album marks the return of the band following individual solo projects. On January 24, 2006,

Jenny Lewis Jennifer Diane Lewis (born January 8, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She was the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley. Lewis gained prominence in the 1980s as a child a ...

released ''

Rabbit Fur Coat ''Rabbit Fur Coat'' is an album in collaboration by Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, with The Watson Twins. It was released in the United States on January 24, 2006, by Team Love. Lewis has described the album as a "sort of soul record". The album conta ...

'' while

Blake Sennett Blake Sennett (born September 22, 1976) is an American musician and actor who served as the lead guitarist for indie rock band Rilo Kiley, as well as the lead singer/lead guitarist for his alt-rock side project the Elected. Until 2017 he led Nigh ...

released ''

Sun, Sun, Sun ''Sun, Sun, Sun'' is the second album by indie band The Elected, released in 2006 by Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands suc ...

'' with

The Elected The Elected are a Los Angeles-based indie rock band. The Elected have released two albums with Sub Pop: '' Me First'' in 2004, and '' Sun, Sun, Sun'' in 2006. A third album, '' Bury Me In My Rings'', was released on 17 May 2011. Members *Blake ...

. The album was produced by the band with

Jason Lader Jason Lader is an American record producer, audio engineer, and mixer from New York. He is also known for playing bass guitar, keyboards, piano, guitar, and as a programmer. He was a member of the band Furslide, and has since worked with Howard B ...

and

Mike Elizondo Mike Elizondo (born October 22, 1972) is an American producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A protege of Dr. Dre, Elizondo has worked with 50 Cent, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Fiona Apple, Mastodon, Ry Cooder, Skylar Grey, Twenty ...

. The first single to be released from the album was "The Moneymaker." The second single was "Silver Lining". Several tracks from ''Blacklight'' were leaked in advance of the album's official release date. On August 17, 2007, the band started streaming the whole album on their MySpace page. The album's

jewel case Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

is tinted purple, reminiscent of a

blacklight A blacklight, also called a UV-A light, Wood's lamp, or ultraviolet light, is a lamp that emits long-wave (UV-A) ultraviolet light and very little visible light. One type of lamp has a violet filter material, either on the bulb or in a separat ...

. The album's covers and inlays were designed by Lewis and

Pierre de Reeder Rilo Kiley ( ) was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Dave Rock. The group released their debut album '' Take-Offs and Landings' ...

, with photography by Autumn de Wilde. The

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

do not feature any song lyrics. The band's first official major label debut features a number of guests musicians, including

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

Alex Greenwald Alexander Greenwald (born October 9, 1979) is an American musician, actor, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist of the California rock band Phantom Planet. Life and career Greenwald was born in Los Angeles, California, to a family of J ...

Phantom Planet Phantom Planet is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1994. The band consists of Alex Greenwald (vocals, rhythm guitar), Darren Robinson (lead guitar), Sam Farrar (bass guitar) and Jeff Conrad (drums). The band is best known for it ...

and James Valentine and

Mickey Madden Michael Allen Madden (born May 13, 1979) is an American musician and a former bassist for the pop rock band Maroon 5. Life and music career Madden was born in Austin, Texas. He began playing in junior high school at the Brentwood School in L ...

from

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...

. However, the album credits do not state on which songs the guests appear. ''Under the Blacklight'' debuted at number 22 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, selling about 27,000 copies in its first week. As of December 2012, sales in the United States have exceeded 186,000 copies, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. On September 25, 2007, Rilo Kiley appeared on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'' to perform "Dreamworld." "Dreamworld" was the first Rilo Kiley song to become popular in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. In November 2007 it was added to the playlist of Maximum, one of the most popular stations in Russia. "Breakin' Up" was heard at the end of the Grey's Anatomy season 4 episode "Forever Young." "The MoneyMaker" was used as the background music in promotional spots for

Fox Network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

's "

Canterbury's Law ''Canterbury's Law'' is an American legal drama television series, which aired from March 10 to April 18, 2008 as a mid-season replacement on Fox. The show was created by Dave Erickson and executive produced by Denis Leary, Jim Serpico, Walon Gre ...

" and a 2009

Carl's Jr. Carl's Jr. Restaurants LLC is an American fast food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurant Holdings, Inc., with franchisees in North & South America, Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa. In 2016, ''Entrepreneur'' listed Carl's Jr. as No. 54 ...

ad featuring

Audrina Patridge Audrina Cathleen Patridge is an American television personality, model and actress. In 2006, she rose to prominence after being cast in the reality television series '' The Hills'', which chronicled the personal and professional lives of Patridge ...

. "15" was included in the "Clearance Sale" show of Season 3 of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio in April 2009.

Critical reception

''Blacklight'' tells a dark story. It is "an album written about Los Angeles' sketchy side... of characters starving for fame and fortune". At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71, based on 32 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews." The album received many

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...

comparisons. Critics praised the band's move into a newer sound, with Rolling Stone calling it "yet even more adventurous" (referring to the band's 2004 album ''

''). This album was #8 on ''

'' list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007. The "January/February 2008" issue of

Blender Magazine ''Blender'' was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities. It compiled lists of albums, artists, and songs, including both "best of" an ...

named ''Under the Blacklight'' the tenth best album of 2007, referring to it as "an album of classically sleek, apocalyptic '70s L.A. coke-rock, in the fine

and

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

tradition."

Track listing

All songs written by Jenny Lewis, except where noted.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, keyboards, guitar *

– guitar, keyboards, vocals (lead on "Dreamworld") *

– bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals *

Jason Boesel Jason Lyon Boesel (born 1977/1978) is an American musician, songwriter and producer based in Los Angeles. He was the drummer for Rilo Kiley and has also played with The Elected and Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. Bands He also drummed ...

– drums, percussion *

Danny Cooksey Daniel Ray Allen Cooksey Jr. (born November 2, 1975) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his roles in television shows, such as ''Diff'rent Strokes'' (during the final three seasons), '' The Cavanaughs'', ''Xiaolin Showdown'' ...

- Backing Vocals

Chart performance

Release history

Credits

All songs published by Deprecious Music/Wonderful Pony Music/Big Blue Boat Music/BB Lindstrom (all BMI) except:
"Dreamworld" published by Deprecious Music/Wonderful Pony Music/Big Blue Boat Music/BB Lindstrom/Morgan Nagler (all BMI)
"Dejalo" published by Deprecious Music/Wonderful Pony Music/Big Blue Boat Music/BB Lindstrom (all BMI)/Point Longstreet Publishing (

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

) *Producers – Rilo Kiley, Jason Lader, Mike Elizondo *Engineers – Adam Hawkins, Brent Arrowood, Michael Bloom, Jedidiah Burtoft, Scott McKay Gibson, Danny Kalb, Bill Mims & Jason Mott *Mixing – Jason Lader, Adam Hawkins *Recording – Jason Lader, Adam Hawkins, Paul Dieter *Mastering - Brian Gardner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Under The Blacklight 2007 albums Rilo Kiley albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Mike Elizondo