Lake Street Dive, Obviously Review

Lake Street Dive is an indie-pop rock band encompassing many possibilities within its members’ collective capabilities. The subsequent music is a brilliant, largely acoustic, groove-driven strain of indie-pop rock. The four members are jazz-schooled, DIY-motivated, and classically pop fascinated and are composed of Rachael Price (lead vocals), Mike “McDuck” Olson (trumpet, guitar), Bridget Kearney (bass), and Mike Calabrese (drums) as well as their newest member Akie Bermiss (keyboards), who has been a touring member of the group since 2017. “It seems the only limitation we have,” Kearney explains, “is that we try to make music that we would like listening to.” Hailing from such disparate locales as Tennessee (Price), Iowa (Kearney), Minneapolis (Olson), and Philadelphia (Calabrese), Lake Street Dive first gathered in a room together when they were students at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music. “Mr. McDuck assembled the four of us, said we were now Lake Street Dive, and we were a ‘free country’ band,” Bridget Kearney remembers. “He wrote this on a chalkboard in the ensemble room that we had our first rehearsal in. We intended to play country music in an improvised, avant-garde style – like Loretta Lynn meets Ornette Coleman. It sounded terrible! But the combination of people and personalities actually made a lot of sense, and we had a great time being around each other and making music together.” Lake Street Dive is now releasing their seventh studio album, which takes its name from the first word in the first song — Obviously.

Bottom Line:  Obviously has eleven tracks filled with Lake Street Dive’s pop music virtues of solid, evocative songcraft, propulsive grooves, and Price’s outstanding vocals. Mike “McDuck” Olson explains, “Now we’re a pop band, leaning very heavily on soul and rock, with hook-y writing, which I never expected,” he concludes. “If I could travel through time, I’d go back six years and play the new record for my younger self, just to assure him that the awkward, new-band phase doesn’t last forever.” The mix of styles keeps one foot firmly planted in the importance that the music must have a groove, and that foundational aspect makes everything else feel lovely. “Obviously” segues us into the project with Price’s warm voice that develops into a hip R&B groove with a catchy melody. The B section is a beautiful breath before a synth solo as the song has plenty of developmental moments, from varied instrument parts to a break-down section. Keeping the feel-good groove vein is “Same Old News,” which has a soulful duet between Price and Bermiss, giving yet another color variation to the flow of material. “Being a Woman” has a cool bassline, marimba, septavox, and flowing backing vocals. Price sings with such soul and power she will undoubtedly grab your attention and hold it through the song’s solid form. Overall, Obviously sustains a buzz of solid songwriting, varied instrumentation, and beautiful singing. The grooves feel excellent, and the melodies are delivered in a relaxed and sensual manner. Obviously is a wedded bliss of adventurous styles combined to be very digestible and infectious. That’s the short of it!

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