Lake Street Dive – Side Pony (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:22 minutes | 849 MB | Genre: Folk, Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Nonesuch
Lake Street Dive’s presents their Nonesuch Records debut album, Side Pony. The four band members—drummer Michael Calabrese, bassist Bridget Kearney, singer Rachael Price, and guitarist/trumpeter Michael “McDuck” Olson—worked with Nashville-based producer Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, Secret Sisters) on the record.
“. . .We’ve always been this somewhat uncategorizable, weird, outlying, genre-less band. That’s the statement we wanted to make with this record: be yourself.” – bassist Bridget Kearney
Centered on the warm, highly resonant vocals of Rachael Price, Boston’s Lake Street Dive began their career as an eclectic, adventurous quartet just as likely to play a twangy, Fleetwood Mac song or a Hall & Oates cover as any of their own soulful, jazz- and R&B-influenced originals. However, since their 2010 eponymous debut, Lake Street Dive, which also features guitarist/trumpeter Mike Olson, bassist Bridget Kearney, and drummer Mike Calabrese, have streamlined their approach, whittling their influences down to a handful of touchstones from guitar-soaked Southern rock to buoyant, dance-oriented old-school R&B. On the group’s fourth full-length album and Nonesuch Records debut, 2016’s Side Pony, they’ve honed their sound even further, zeroing in on a vintage-inspired, ’60s soul aesthetic. Named after Kearney’s hairstyle, and serving as an easy metaphor for the group’s unpredictable creative choices, Side Pony was recorded in Nashville with producer Dave Cobb, who has previously worked with the likes of Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Shooter Jennings, and others. Purportedly, Cobb requested the band come to the sessions with song sketches, rather than fully composed pieces. Furthermore, he encouraged them to crate dive for vintage LPs from which to draw inspiration, a process that may have led the band to sample Major Lance’s rare 1978 Motown-side “Love Pains” for their ’70s disco-era soul-sounding track “Can’t Stop.” While there is plenty to admire about how closely Lake Street Dive hew to their vintage-sounding paradigm, they do take some interesting side-steps on their retro journey, jumping into the Beatles-meets-Janis Joplin-sounding “I Don’t Care About You,” and kicking out the jams on the fuzz-toned, psych-soul anthem “Hell Yeah.” Ultimately, hooks abound on Side Pony and cuts like “Godawful Things,” “Call Off Your Dogs,” and “How Good It Feels,” with their shimmery, echo-chamber, AM Radio vibe, stick in your head about as much as many of the classic sides they are attempting to match. ~~AllMusic Review by Matt Collar
Tracklist:
1. Godawful Things 03:47
2. Close to Me 04:18
3. Call Off Your Dogs 03:25
4. Spectacular Failure 02:32
5. I Don’t Care About You 03:38
6. So Long 02:45
7. How Good It Feels 02:14
8. Side Pony 03:02
9. Hell Yeah 03:24
10. Mistakes 04:08
11. Can’t Stop 03:25
12. Saving All My Sinning 03:44
Personnel:
Rachael Price, vocals (1–12), background vocals (3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12), vocoder (3), handclaps (11, 12)
Bridget Kearney, bass (1, 2, 4–9), background vocals (1–12), piano (1), acoustic bass (3), electric bass (3, 10–12), Mellotron (3), screams (3), celeste (8), organ (9), handclaps (11, 12)
Mike “McDuck” Olson, guitars (1–9, 11, 12), background vocals (1, 2, 4–12), Moog (1), organ (1), Mellotron (2, 3, 5–9, 11, 12), trumpet (3, 4), screams (3), organ guitar (4), celeste (8), Rhodes (10–12), handclaps (11, 12)
Michael Calabrese, drums (1–12), background vocals (1, 2, 4–12), tambourine (1–6, 8, 9, 11, 12), handclaps (1, 3, 11, 12), congas (3, 8, 9, 11, 12), shakers (3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12), vocal percussion (3), screams (3), organ (5), marching kit (11), triangle (11)
Dave Cobb, handclaps (1, 3, 11), vocoder knobs (3), acoustic guitar (6), volume knob (9)
Emily Lichter, handclaps (11)
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