Coming quickly on the heels of Jenny Lewis' 2006 debut solo album (and guitarist Blake Sennett's second album with his own offshoot The Elected for that matter) Rilo Kiley have returned with their first album since 2004's Indie-Rock breakthrough More Adventurous. Under the Blacklight is Rilo Kiley's major-label debut for Warner Bros. and it certainly feels like Lewis and company are swinging for the fences of stardom with gusto because almost every track here feels like it was slickly arranged with radio airplay in mind.

Early reviews of Under the Blacklight when it leaked a few months back called this Rilo Kiley moving into Fleetwood Mac territory and for the most part I find that observation a tad absurd (although Sennett's lone lead vocal track "Dreamworld" does sound like mid-80's Lindsey Buckingham, but I digress). Lewis and the boys actually go for the everything but the kitchen sink mentality here throwing everything they can at the proverbial wall and trying to make something...hell, anything stick. First single "The Moneymaker" oddly enough sounds like Foreigner's "Jukebox Hero" of all things and "Breakin' Up" is so ridiculously faux-disco I expected Donna Summer to chime in during the second verse. Not to say that this is a bad thing, in truth most of this record is quite catchy (except for "Dejalo" and the closing track "Give a Little Love," those songs are just plain awful) but Under the Blacklight never finds consistent footing like any of their excellent back catalog. If anything it feels like Rilo Kiley are trying to wedge themselves somewhere between Jewel and Sheryl Crow with this record and that's pretty disheartening for a band that once showed unlimited potential.

A little over half of Under the Blacklight is worth recommending, but older fans expecting past Rilo Kiley greatness should curb their high expectations if they plan to get any enjoyment out of it.