''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), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

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 mainstream or commercial ...

band Rilo Kiley. 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''. Warner Bros. Records 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, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''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 released '' Rabbit Fur Coat'' while Blake Sennett 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 su ...

'' 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 *Blak ...

. The album was produced by the band with Jason Lader and Mike Elizondo. 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 is tinted purple, reminiscent of a blacklight. 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 des ...

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 ...

of Phantom Planet and James Valentine and Mickey Madden 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 ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's ...

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

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. 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'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. ad featuring Audrina 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 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, 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 epo ...

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

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

tradition."

Track listing

All songs written by Jenny Lewis, except where noted.

Personnel

* Jenny Lewis –

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 withou ...

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

– bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals * Jason Boesel – drums, percussion * Danny Cooksey - 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