“There’s a little bit of magic/Everybody has it/There’s a little bit of fight left in me yet,” sings Jenny Lewis on the first track off her new record, and she certainly goes on to make good of that statement. Her third solo album and first in six years is an exercise in making really good pop music sound effortless, most likely because it is at this point. The Voyager finds Lewis journeying through a nostalgia-toned sea armed with a searing sense of humor and practiced honesty that still manages to charm us to death. Produced — actually entirely revamped — by Ryan Adams, the ten track album is a clean, confident and expertly crafted cotton candy cloud made lush by countless veteran collaborators (Beck, The Watson Twins, Lou Barlow, Becky Stark) of the indie scene.
Much of the subject material on The Voyager is that of heartbreak and regret. It’s not until we actually listen closer to the otherwise good times-sounding record that we hear her singing about exes who have moved on and are happier now, like in “She’s Not Me”, or about being “just another lady without a baby” in “Just One of the Guys” — i.e. continued inequality. The way she approaches her frustrations with a smile is really her trademark at this point, so we don’t actually mind all the sunshine despite the rain a few clouded layers down. In fact, it’s Lewis’ ability to tell a good story so genuinely that holds our attention past the first few listens.
The first three songs end up taking turns bouncing off the walls of your head, as the rest of the album proceeds in providing 90s feels, maximum hooks and insightful one-liners. Everything feels drenched in Lewis’ charisma, making it a sweet summer spin. Her confident songwriting, combined with impeccable production, pushes her crystalline voice to the forefront, making The Voyager no less than an incredible feat. Where most other artists who’ve been around for over a decade may strain in releasing something substantial and as instantly likable as The Voyager, Jenny Lewis just grins.
