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Juliette Sans Rocks

Aiming for a significant change in style from her previous two albums, former actress turned pop star Juliette Lewis has swapped her previous band for a new band of cohorts, The New Romantiques. Along with the band, Mars Volta producer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has helped the feisty rock starlet to create a diverse album that adds a little intelligence to the rock mix.

From the dramatic, howling intro, it’s clear that Lewis is trying to channel some of the artistic passion of her day job into her music, but the first track, the wiry and tense ‘Noche Sin Fin’ sounds very much like Lewis’ previous fierce rock laments and most of the album follows in a similar direction. This is no bad thing, but being led to believe that you’re about to witness an artist with an exciting new sound leaves you a little disappointed if the change isn’t sustained.

‘Romeo’ is a slightly cheesy but fun indie tune with an overload of brash guitar riffs, the chorus of, “You and I underneath the blue light, always and forever” would probably be enough to turn off most of the straight male audience, were it not for the Lewis’ unrestrained poetic mutterings that have the same rapturous sexual charge as Patti Smith’s soliloquies, but this just makes it feel even more of an anticlimax when the sappy tune kicks back in.

‘Hard Lovin’ Woman’ is a moot point; a rather unnecessary blues rock number that sees Lewis cooing over a brittle guitar track like a relentless siren, it’s about as derivative as possible and likely to turn off those hoping for a more complex and subtle blend of material from Juliette Lewis and band mark 2.

‘Female Persecution’ strays away from the more traditional rock numbers with a crazy backing of random samples and tense percussion, it’s somehow intriguing and a pleasing break, but it also lacks enough structure to make it catchy or memorable for anything other than being a little weird. The truth of the matter is that Juliette Lewis does rock tunes very well, the boisterous but jangly ‘Suicide Dive Bombers’ is a smart tune, while ‘Noche Sin Fin’ is a powerful rock romp.

‘Terra Incognita’ isn’t a bad album, it’s just not the different or innovative album that was promised and it feels as if some of Lewis’ efforts to refine her style have merely left her relying too heavily on her influences. Or maybe she should have been spearheading riot grrrl way back in the 90’s, but her time came too late. Either way it’s worth a listen but it’s not likely to improve your life.