The sexism that so often goes hand-in-hand with assigning credit for popcraft is virtually always a one-way street. From the naysayers who claimed Courtney Love owed her career to Cobain and Corgan, to the implication that M.I.A.'s is chiefly Diplo's creation, to the innumerable female pop stars who get treated like automatons incapable of creative input (while Justin Timberlake is lauded as a savvy popsmith, of course), the same unfortunate scenario continues to play out of a woman's work being attributed to a man.
Fortunately, like some sweet Title IX of indie-rock accreditation, Johnathan Rice has come along to help rectify the gender imbalance. That's because Rice is currently dating indie queen Jenny Lewis, who just happens to get co-writing credit on seven of the eleven tracks from her beau's sophomore full-length, Further North, which suspiciously also happens to be a significant improvement over his dreary debut.
Rice's first offering, 2005's Trouble Is Real, revealed a dusky-voiced young troubadour (seven years Lewis' junior, in fact) who sounded like John Mayer with a stronger political sensibility and weaker hooks. The handful of songs that at least boasted worthwhile lyrics were largely marred by Rice's dewily florid delivery, the same overweening earnestness that makes you want to punch Mayer in the face too. The best lyric by miles on Rice's debut belonged to "Behind the Frontlines", the one track, coincidentally enough, co-penned by Lewis. Her fingerprints are all over this new record, of course, but surprisingly the enhancements that have elevated Rice from a noxious artist to a tolerable one appear to be predominantly his own doing.
Most obviously and blessedly, Rice has gone from sounding like a strict Mayer copyist to more judiciously appropriating several vaguely earthy baritones, alternately evoking David Bazan, Jakob Dylan, David Lowery, and the Doves' Jimi Goodwin. Seemingly baby steps, I know, but worlds better than perpetually expecting him to segue into a karaoke rendition of "Your Body Is a Wonderland". A little vocal variation also helps mask the fact that Rice still hasn't figured out he's far better acclimated to loping, unforced folk than harder-charging rock, stumbling over the bashing, stop-start rhythms of "THC" and "Giving It Up" when his truest mien lies in the gentler, more rambling likes of "End of the Affair" (a duet with Lewis) and "The Middle of the Road".
Of course, you'd expect Lewis' contributions to be most noticeably lyrical, and it's true that Further North frequently treats her pet themes of institutional disillusion ("We're All Stuck Out in the Desert") and hipster-to-sell-out hand-wringing ("The Middle of the Road", the title track). Interestingly enough, however, those latter two songs are credited solely to Rice, as is the album's other true lyrical standout, the progress-busting nature fable "The Ballad of King Coyote". Meanwhile, the remaining songs that bear at least a portion of Lewis' stamp are generally scarcely more compelling than the material on Rice's debut. Still, even at its best, Further North isn't close to being on par with Lewis' magnificent Rabbit Fur Coat, suggesting the Emmylou of Laurel Canyon may have been on cruise control here. On the other hand, at least it appears Rice has been taking solid notes.
