Rabbit Fur Coat is the first solo album by Jenny Lewis, extremely talented front-woman for Rilo Kiley, in conjunction with The Watson Twins. The album was released on 24 January 2006 by Team Love Records and was eagerly anticipated by fans of Jenny and Rilo Kiley. Shows have already begun to sell out within a week of the album's debut.
Track Listing:
- Run Devil Run - 1:06
- The Big Guns - 2:32
- Rise Up With Fists!! - 3:36
- Happy - 4:14
- The Charging Sky - 2:56
- Melt Your Heart - 2:50
- You Are What You Love - 2:51
- Rabbit Fur Coat - 4:32
- Handle With Care - 2:56
- Born Secular - 5:07
- It Wasn't Me - 4:10
- Happy (Reprise) - 0:48
Jenny Lewis has put a great deal of personal emotion and experience into this album, as one would expect in such an effort. Some of her material deals with religion, and one a myriad of interesting concepts explored in this album is the "church sound." The album begins like an old gospel hymnal, but with better harmonies, on "Run Devil Run" and then moves into an upbeat cadence reminiscent of a tent revival on "The Big Guns." Other parts of the album have an old country/western feel to them, such as "The Charging Sky" and "You Are What You Love," but this is a good thing despite how you may feel about country/western. Overall the album is quite balanced, with no one track standing out above the rest. Every song is equally soulful and thought provoking, its full meaning revealed only after repeat listenings and maybe not even then.
This quote from a review by Andy Greenwald sums the album up nicely:
In the tiny moments between the stage and the studio, after the photo shoots but before the bars, Jenny spends time by herself, daydreaming and strumming on her acoustic guitar. And the sound of that time alone is Rabbit Fur Coat, Jenny’s first solo album and one of the most bewitching and intoxicating discs of music you’ve heard in years.