Jenny Lewis – The Voyager (Warner Bros.)

Jenny Lewis – The Voyager (Warner Bros.)

Jenny Lewis has lived fast, but as of yet she has not died young. Thus, she has incredible stories to tell, like the one on “Late Bloomer” where she flies to Paris at age 16 and ends up in a threesome, but she’s also feeling some emotional whiplash, like when she laments on “Just One Of The Guys” that she can only see her thirtysomething self as “just another lady without a baby.” Throughout The Voyager, the indie-rock icon derives tremendous dramatic weight from that tension, from watching the sand sift through the hourglass and asserting, “There’s a little bit of fight left in me yet.” Her years of experience prove valuable here; the album’s sleek California folk-rock sparkles with the studio craft of a time-tested professional. Underneath that sheen, the same vulnerability and fortitude Lewis made her name on remains — wearier, perhaps, but wiser too. –Chris [LISTEN]