Review: Karen Jonas- The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch
There's a duality in Karen Jonas' The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch that keeps things interesting throughout. On the surface, much of the album is an upbeat celebration of America's obsession with kitsch, a Norman Rockwell portrait of a '50s household. But beneath that is a commentary on the same consumerism bred in that era and the late-stage Capitalism that it bred in today's society.
The inspiration for The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch was Jonas' viewing of Baz Luhrmann's 2022 biopic Elvis. Listening to the album, it's no surprise that the “King” of American kitsch, the subject of a million tacky velvet portraits, was a major influence. A rockabilly core runs through many of the album's twelve songs.
The album's best song is the humorous “Online Shopping.” With a doo-wop backing vocal and snap percussion, the song is an ode to an introvert's favorite thing, e-commerce. Jonas revels in her awkwardness in every word of “Online Shopping.” “I don't think I wanna leave my bathtub,” Jonas sings, “have you seen the crazy shit that happens?” Later she faces everyone's worst restaurant nightmare, “the waiter told me to enjoy my food / I looked right at him and said 'thanks, you too.' / Now I'm eating takeout in the nude.”
“Buy” is the album's shortest song and it’s most catchy. With a folksy acoustic guitar strum, Jonas details everything she sees in magazines and movies and finds herself inspired to buy. But the impulse to buy comes at a price, as her domestic life suffers from her daydreaming (“there's dishes on the counter / there's dishes in the bedroom”). A friend tries to get her into therapy for her problems but she decides instead to “buy a Lazy Boy to sleep away my day.”
There are some moments of pure unfiltered kitschy fun on The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch. “Plastic Pink Flamingos” is three and a half minutes of honky tonk ode to every trailer park's favorite lawn ornament. “Let's Go to Hawaii” channels not only Elvis in his movie period but also a major Jonas influence, Jimmy Buffett. With an island stroll, Jonas plays the part of a neglected vintage housewife trying to convince her workaholic husband to take an adults-only trip to Hawaii. “I'll wear a bikini,” she croons to her spouse, “let me pour you a drink.”
The spoken poem “American Kitsch” is Jonas' one shot at our societal need to buy that doesn't wrap itself in a veneer of positivity and vintage kitsch. It details the tendency to follow trends, piling more and more stuff up that is “forgotten, but not gone.” Later she says “Consumerism is our national religion” and it's hard to argue with her.
Elsewhere on The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch, Jonas goes full rockabilly on “Four Cadillacs,” tries on tinges of Southern gothic on “Shake Bump and Grind Show,” and explores the darker side of Elvis' story with the cautionary story of a pill mill on “Dr. Nick.” The album covers a lot of ground, dark and light, without ever losing its sense of humor.