Thunder Thighs

iTunes Review

With Thunder Thighs, Kimya Dawson works beyond her usual lo-fi approach to include the sweetening of pianos and strings, as well as collaborations with rapper Aesop Rock for some beat-driven tunes. Other guests include The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, The Strokes’ Nikolai Fraiture, and several choirs. It’s still plenty weird and totally Kimya. Only Dawson could get away with the remedial pull of “Miami Advice,” where she sounds like a rapper in training wheels. “The Library” sounds like America’s favorite mom has found herself surrounded by a new set of friends. “Year 10,” featuring Pablo Das, is more in line with her anti-folk beginnings. “Mare and the Bear” is the type of bizarre sing-along that Dawson excelled at even before she had a child. Dawson won audiences over with her guileless tunes on the Juno soundtrack, and it’s still that innocence that makes even a rant like “Same S**t/Complicated” completely endearing. While the additional musicians are a welcome diversion, there’s still plenty of relatively low-key stuff like “Driving Driving Driving” and “Utopian Futures” to reassure the faithful.