They're Having Fun Now

© Warner Bros.

The first thing you'll read about Jenny Lewis is that she's a former child actress turned accomplished solo artist and singer/songwriter/bassist now on hiatus from Rilo Kiley since their 2007 excellent major label release, Under the Black Lights. To learn more about Johnathan Rice you have to dig a little deeper. He's not such a hipster household name but he's climbing the cool ladder album by album as a singer/songwriter and journeyman musician having worked with many industry heavyweights, including Elvis Costello, who tapped Johnathan and his band, The Imposters, to record Momofuku. And, if you caught I Walk the Line, you watched Johnny doing an amazing Roy Orbison. Talent and good looks ooze out of these kids' pores.

So, I'm Having Fun Now that Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice – adorable singer/songwriters, lovers and mates – have recorded this album full of shimmery, jangly boy/girl power pop. Jenny and Johnny aren't out to redefine the boy/girl formula nor do they try to keep up with the current glut of him and her collabos, i.e.; She & Him, Sleigh Bells, Beach House, Matt & Kim, Phantogram, Cotton Jones...anybody remember Pete Yorn and Scarlett Jo?

They hew closely to a tried and true formula of beautiful harmonies, guitars and sunny arrangements that barely conceal the rigors of love and life. Rather than taking a cue from theoverused Beach Boys playbook, or an Everything But the Girl dance vibe, Jenny and Johnnyplay straight-on ‘90s pop rock sprinkled with Jenny’s subliminal twang, their music coated witha soft veneer of reverb, echo and prepared distortion to color and age each song gracefully, rather than to muddy the mix. In their veteran hands, reverb is employed as effect rather than affect andthe overall result is an oeuvre of songs that sound familiar, yet new.

The songs are sweet but tough, the harmonies and lyrical interplay pitch-perfect but just beneath the surface lies the pain, pleasure and pathos of relationships ("She ain't a princess, she's anartist; paint a portrait all over my heart...a scissor runner stole my heart." "You talk a lot ofshit but you would never start a fight"). The first and second tracks, "Scissor Runner" and "Pet Snakes" are rave-up love songs followed by the ballad-like "Switchblade." "Big Wave" opens with aWAVVES-like guitar tsunami but it subsides and evens out into a lovely, achy-breaky song. It’snot a long, tortured album and it’s over before you know it, but it fills you up.

Jenny and Johnny are going for the Great American songbook rather than a flash in the pan as your run of the mill transplanted Brooklyn duo. They're aren’t breaking any new ground but I'm Having Fun Now means I'm going to keep this album on my playlist for many repeat listens.