There is something undeniably exotic about child actors. Maybe it’s the abundance of "Whatever happened to…?" specials, maybe it’s the fairy dust surrounding people who’ve had any measure of "celebrity." Whatever the reason, when I heard that the band playing at The Glass House last Friday was fronted by the child starlet Jenny Lewis, of The Wizard (quasi-) fame, my usual enthusiasm for seeing a show swelled to nearly inappropriate heights. What would she look like? What drugs would she be on? Would she talk about movies, or would her attempt at indie-cred keep her silent and/or cynical?

Oh, and would the band be any good?

The band is Rilo Kiley. They played at The Glass House last Friday, March 23 as part of another band’s CD release party, one of four bands (Diligents, Rilo Kiley, Smile, and Ozma) playing that night. In addition to the vocal stylings of Ms. Lewis, Rilo Kiley also features Blake Sennett on guitar, Pierre de Reeder on bass and Dave Rock on drums. Formed two years ago by Sennett and Lewis, the group has recorded two records, both self-produced, self-distributed and self-titled–and both having done a remarkable job of appearing on TV soundtracks and the like, which begs the question: did Lewis’s industry affiliation end with her last film two years ago, or are her songs making her entrances for her?

Rilo Kiley’s website, www.rilokiley.com, proclaims that: "Although Los Angeles, California is famous within the music industry for having been the epicenter of hair-metal mania during the 1980s, the city has never really been synonymous with a sound.... a testament to the city’s eclectic nature and its denizens’ ever broadening tastes."

This, they claim, "is where Rilo Kiley comes in," further stating that the "Echo Park-based quartet draws from such a wide variety of influences and styles that the resulting sound defies easy classification."

I suppose it makes a lot of sense for a band that bills themselves as being so very "L.A." to have a child star as their frontwoman.

And it works.

Unlike so many other actors-turned-musicians, who desperately try to divorce the one from the other, Lewis is unabashed about her Hollywood past. It’s this past that gives Rilo Kiley’s country- and indie- tinged pop songs an emotional weight, contrasting nicely with the band’s decided cuteness. For example, where another band might sing their "Teenage Love Song" about falling for the popular guy, Lewis croons: "you were so famous, I couldn’t resist," and later, for the real L.A. tinge: "you were in rehab, you think I don’t know."

Lewis’s lyrics and delivery expose in her that strange equilibrium of being worn out by 23, but also living something of a second childhood later in life. It’s sad to have been a child star. But it’s also interesting, and I haven’t decided yet exactly how much of Rilo Kiley’s draw is from this alone.

As for Rilo Kiley’s "unclassifiable sound," well the jury is still out on that one. This was one of those shows where I spent a lot of the time trying to guess what the members listened to when they were growing up. The answers in this case were pretty clear: Sonic Youth, early Radiohead, The Bangles, and Patsy Cline. Someone definitely listened to a lot of Pasty Cline. The result is that, in concert, Rilo Kiley sounds like a Sarge-esque pop band, but their record is at least half country.

But, as you might imagine, Jenny Lewis once again makes all the difference. As a child in Hollywood, Lewis has no doubt had extensive voice training, and I’d wager that most of this was in musical theater. The girl can sing. Really sing. It’s that voice, and Lewis’s theatrical manipulation of otherwise straightforward melody, that sets Rilo Kiley musically apart from the average female-fronted indie-pop band. It’s also what makes them just so damn fun to watch.