Send "The Elected " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Blake Sennett was all but a silent partner in Rilo Kiley's last two LPs, which suggests the title of his first solo bow as the Elected, Me First, was something of an in-joke. He previously explored advertently lush California sounds on 2006's Sun, Sun, Sun, but on his latest album, Bury Me in My Rings, Sennett has immersed himself in a definitively Golden State of mind. It's not what you think, however: Sennett riffs on Silver Lake ennui and Hollywood plasticity. To properly criticize it, you have to play an active role in it he seems to say.Indeed, the countrypolitan aspirations of Bury Me often make it sound hollow-- there's a basis in roots music, but it isn't "rootsy" by any stretch. Instead, the clean-shaven guitars, pedal steels, and violins (not fiddles) achieve an eerie minimalism. Even when they're all appearing at the same time, they're not overwhelming these songs or offering low-end counterpoint but playing toward Sennett's papery, Elliott Smith-like vocals. Meanwhile, Sennett's songwriting voice has a nonchalant, conversational tone. The melodies and lyrical sentiments of "Born to Love You" come so easily, you figure it just has to be cliché, until some loopy tangents about moon launches and flat-screen TV's suggest that Sennett's in on his own joke. On the whole, there are enough tossed-off thoughts and broken communication to make you feel like an eavesdropper rather than a part of a dialogue. Whether addressing a seemingly doomed relationship on the string-haunted "Who Are You" ("You got yourself a good girl/ That's good enough for you") or possibly former Rilo Kiley drummer Jason Boesel during "Have You Been Cheated" ("Is your daddy a hustler?" ostensibly referring to his solo album, Hustler's Son), there's a resigned lack of judgment, which always sounds empathetic even when it feels completely accusatory. That sense of resignation can also be a weakness. It wasn't the post-Postal Service production trickery that made Me First the best Rilo Kiley project since The Execution of All Things, but relatively uptempo numbers like "Go On" and "A Time for Emily"-- there's an intriguing inversion in how Sennett's more aggressive music often sounds the most emotionally vulnerable. "Go For the Throat" approaches that sort of catharsis, but not much other than a distorted vocal effect on "When I'm Gone" will jolt you out of the second half of this record, which spends too much time with its feet up. Curiously, that sort of pointedly L.A. arrested development suits Sennett-- even as he morphs sonically, on Bury Me in My Rings he stays true to detailing a life of bright prospects and a willingness to underachieve....full text |
| Pastemagazine |
| What sucks about having a bandmate as genuinely talented, charismatic (and, yes, physically attractive) as Jenny Lewis, lead singer and co-songwriter of Rilo Kiley, is that when you step out for a side-project, it’s tough for listeners to not automatically be a little disappointed by the lack of star power. But that’s no slight to Blake Sennett, the former child star of shows like Boy Meets World and Nickelodeon classic Salute Your Shorts (Where you at, Nickheads?) who has been the co-brains behind Rilo Kiley, one of indie-rock’s finest and most reliable bands, since day one. It just means that, at first, his tunes with The Elected feel like they’re missing something. Sennett’s always been the smoother songwriter of the Rilo Kiley duo, the pop classicist to Lewis’ hard-nosed poet, the romantic McCartney to Lewis’ sharp, headier Lennon. Listening to his previous albums under the The Elected moniker (which also includes guitarist Mike Bloom and an assortment of bassists and drummers) is initially akin to jamming with Oates without the Hall. But with The Elected, Sennett’s found an appropriate outlet for indulging in his slickest pop desires, and once you’re able to simply appreciate the music for what it is (and not what it isn’t), you’ll realize that nothing’s missing at all....full text |
| Slantmagazine |
| With Blake Sennett fading further into the background on each successive Rilo Kiley album, his side project as frontman for the Elected is an opportunity for the poor guy to show off his talents. But the Elected's third outing, Bury Me in My Rings, is a middling album that doesn't consistently play to Sennett's strengths. While the band's previous record, Sun, Sun, Sun, was a pleasant and occasionally inspired set of summer pop, Bury Me in My Rings plays too fast and loose with its genre pastiches and is a scattershot affair as a result. Sennett and his cohorts focus primarily on a dewy brand of soft rock that recalls the worst of dentist's-office easy-listening music. Opener "Born to Love You" buries Sennett's straightforward guitar riffs beneath his breathy, high-pitched vocal turn, while "Look at Me Now" plays out as a lifeless retread of Modest Mouse's "Float On" without the production punch or witty lyrics. This less-is-really-less approach only works on "Jailbird," a hushed, quirky love song that's one of the few times that Sennett's usually wiseass sense of humor comes through. When he attempts to get in a few digs at Lewis and her Acid Tongue reputation on "Go for the Throat," it ends up coming across as bitter and petty. The ambling country shuffle of "When I'm Gone" is simply ineffective, and the R&B posturing of "Babyface" comes across as Maroon 5 lite. Sennett is talented enough that none of these songs are outright bad, but they simply lack the same polish and sense of purpose that have made his contributions to Rilo Kiley's albums and the standout tracks on Sun, Sun, Sun more distinctive. If Sennett hadn't already proven that the Elected is capable of producing better music than just the average side project, Bury Me in My Rings might not have been such a disappointment....full text |
The Elected lyrics
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