Caliente

Rilo Kiley into limelight with 'More Adventurous'

Rilo Kiley thrilled thrift-store hipsters and became rock gods of the indie world with 2002's "Execution of All Things." Now the attention that 2004's "More Adventurous" is receiving is pushing the band into the mainstream limelight. Time magazine chose "Portions for Foxes," a song on the new album, as one of the 12 "Songs of Summer," and Spin and Vanity Fair magazines have both written about the band. Drummer Jason Boesel said all the attention only means the band lived up to his simple goal for the album: "To do better than our last one. To reach more people and grow." Perhaps the band has a better grasp on fame since exactly half of its members are former child actors. Singer Jenny Lewis appeared in several movies, including 1989's "Troop Beverly Hills," and guitarist Blake Sennett was on Nickelodeon's "Salute Your Shorts." Boesel remains modest about Rilo Kiley's success. "I don't know if it's necessarily thrusting us into mainstream rock 'n' roll," he said in a phone interview from Illinois. "I don't know if we're even knocking at the door." Reaching out to a more mainstream audience may turn off some of the indie rock purists out there, but it shouldn't. Rilo Kiley still makes great rock 'n' roll. And in some ways, this polished new album is even more experimental than the band's last. "More Adventurous" includes many songs with extra string and brass parts - a layered sound that the quartet (including bassist Pierre de Reeder) is trying to re-create on the road by bringing a cellist, violinist and two horn players on tour. While the band's breakthrough album was filled with wholesome indie rock licks, the new album is much more diverse and shifts between revealing folk and soul, supercharged rock and even a little country twang. "Since the last record, our sound has definitely changed," said Boesel. "I think it's a natural progression, but it is still decidedly different. There are more folk songs on this record, as well as harder rock songs in some cases. It's a pretty varied record, but I think that's an accurate representation of who we are as people and what we listen to."