Johnathan Rice came to fame on the arm of
Jenny Lewis, standing alongside her as she eased away from
Rilo Kiley in 2006 and staying in the picture until 2015, functioning as both romantic partner and sometime collaborator. Their relationship ended in 2015, and 2019's
The Long Game -- not only the first album
Rice has recorded since their split, but his first since 2013's
Good Graces -- is a classic breakup album, chronicling the wreckage and resolve that follows a severed allowance. Producer
Tony Berg encouraged
Rice to record most of the album himself -- famous friends
Courtney Marie Andrews and
Griffin Goldsmith of
Dawes do make cameos, but they're essentially accents on a record that spends a lot of time wallowing in the melancholy blue of twilight.
The Long Game moves at such a deliberate pace that it's hard not to embrace the moments where the tempo changes -- either by quickening, as it does on "Below the Deck," or easing into the waltz of "Change" -- but the hushed dynamics and slow processionals are part and parcel with breakup albums; the stillness conveys seriousness. Even if the tenor of the album sometimes seems a little too somber, the heavy feelings help focus
Rice, trimming away his tendency to overwrite. Directness suits him, making his melodies seem tender and his words empathetic -- a hard-won victory, perhaps, but a victory all the same.