Lake Street Drives' latest single Hypotheticals is a real breath of fresh air. The catchy lyrics, upbeat tone and Rachel Price's amazing vocals make the song an instant classic.
As a band, Lake Street Dive epitomizes democracy in action: the group, expanded into a quintet since touring keyboardist Akie Bermiss officially joined in 2017, share writing and arrangement duties. Their personalities, skills, and wide-ranging taste in pop, rock, R&B, and jazz have long blended together to make an impressively cohesive sound, both sophisticated and playful, combining retro influences with contemporary attitude. On its most recent Nonesuch album, 2018’s Free Yourself Up, the band even produced the record itself.
But, after being on the road for nearly eighteen months since that album, the band members decided they could use some outside help. They had been writing, swapping demos, and rehearsing before and after soundchecks or in backstage green rooms and had amassed a wealth of new material, full songs, and sketches. With more than three dozen new songs and the desire to make a concise, vinyl-length album, they turned to Mike Elizondo, the producer-songwriter-multi- instrumentalist whom Lake Street Dive fans might remember as music director of Chris Thile’s public radio series, Live From Here. The Grammy Award-winning Elizondo is perhaps best known as a songwriting collaborator of Dr. Dre, Eminem, and 50 Cent, but he has also served as a record producer for Fiona Apple, Mary J. Blige, Carrie Underwood, and 21 Pilots, among many others. He is as conversant in jazz as in rock, country, bluegrass, and hip hop—exactly the sort of genre-juggling guy who would appreciate Lake Street Dive’s own versatility.
Obviously is titled after the first word in the lyrics of opening track “Hypotheticals.” And it is obvious from the start that the band has homed in on Elizondo’s hip-hop record- making expertise, because, on this material, the grooves run especially deep. A sense of rhythmic fun drives just about every track, from up-tempo numbers like “Hush Money” to a bittersweet slow dance like “Anymore.” The quintet fashions disarmingly cheerful arrangements guaranteed to keep the party going even as the subject matter takes a more serious turn on lead-off single, “Making Do,” about a younger generation facing a life of diminished expectations, and “Being a Woman,” a finger-snapping, bird-flipping treatise on gender inequality. “Nobody’s Stopping You Now” is a letter of encouragement from lead vocalist Rachael Price to her teenaged self, co-written with bassist Bridget Kearney. - Lake Street Drive
Check Out This Weeks Hot Traxx Top Ten:
1. Best In Show - Sedona
2. Crying On My Own - Sedona
3. More Love - Sedona
4. I Can't Go For That (Nicolaas Remix) - Hall & Oates
5. Hypotheticals - Lake Street Drive
6. Ride On Time - The Bamboos
7. Half Drunk Under A Full Moon - The Fratellis
8. Six Days In June - The Fratellis
9. Bad Dreams - Canon
10. Dance - Foxes
For more great music check out my Hot Traxx playlist on Spotify:
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