Rkives is a career-spanning collection of B-sides, demos, rarities, and previously unreleased tracks from the Los Angeles indie-pop band Rilo Kiley, released on April 2, 2013 via bassist Pierre de Reeder's Little Record Company. The 16-track set arrived six years after the band's final studio album, Under the Blacklight (2007), and two years after the group officially disbanded, functioning as both a document of their decade-long run and a quiet farewell. Nine of the tracks had never been released in any form, while the remainder drew from B-sides, hard-to-find singles, and demo recordings, including a demo of "Rest of My Life" and a closing appearance of "The Frug" — the very first song from their 1999 debut EP Initial Friend — giving the collection a gentle sense of full-circle closure. The sequencing moves roughly backwards through the band's career before landing on that earliest artifact, lending what might otherwise be a loose assortment of odds and ends a subtle narrative shape.The record is held together by the same qualities that defined Rilo Kiley at their best: Jenny Lewis's commanding, emotionally unguarded vocals, Blake Sennett's melodic instincts, and a tonal range that shifts easily between shimmering indie pop, twangy alt-country, and confessional rock. Standout tracks include "Well, You Left," a six-minute slow-burn that reviewers consistently singled out as one of the collection's finest moments, the yearning "All the Drugs," and the anthemic "Let Me Back In," which served as the lead single and is among the strongest songs the band left on the cutting-room floor. A Too $hort remix of "Dejalo" was widely regarded as the one misstep in an otherwise admirably curated set. Critical reception was mixed but leaned positive among fans, with many noting — as SPIN put it — that few bands' outtakes could plausibly serve as a primer for the uninitiated.
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