Lake Street Dive "Lake Street Dive"

Signature Sounds, 2011

Classic summery pop – dive in....

• Having formed at Boston’s New England Music Conservatory, and collected something of a following via some YouTube videos, Lake Street Dive certainly have jazz stylings on their radar, but their range on this third album reaches way beyond that to embrace classic soul, rock, and blissfully sun-drenched pop on the way.

• Their sound is awash with rhythm guitars that suggest soul and funk, jazz horn tones, organ, percussion and upright bass, but the star turn is Tennessee songbird Rachel Price, whose effortless and intimate vocals are a treasure. Her clipped technique obviously steeped in vintage soul 7”s and Sarah Vaughan classics, she weaves subtle attractive melodies around the band’s vibrant stew.

  ‘I Don’t Really See You Anymore’, ‘Funny Not To Care’ and ‘Don’t Make Me Hold Your Hand’ bring her jazzy and attractive Imelda May/Adele soul vocal style to the fore of these well written, lovelorn songs, while ‘Miss Disregard’ is a sassy soul romp, and the type of showstopper Ms Winehouse might have patented could she ever be arsed.  Meanwhile the retro-rock bounce of ‘Henriette’ and the excellent ‘Elijah’ should see them fill rapt smiling festival fields from here to wherever U2 do actually pay tax.

  Their schooling has obviously benefited their composition and arrangement techniques no end. Not for everybody ,but if classic well-written pop music with a distinct vintage soul veneer is your thing, Lake Street Dive have put themselves somewhere near the premier league of bands that could steal your heart.