Obviously＜White Vinyl＞

Having started out as a genre-bending indie outfit, Bostons Lake Street Dive have matured into sophisticated purveyors of vintage-inspired soul, funk, and adult contemporary pop. Its a sound that helped make 2018s Free Yourself Up such a delightful surprise, and one which they further perfect on their seventh album, 2021s thoughtfully ebullient Obviously. Produced with warm clarity by Mike Elizondo, the album again showcases the talents of lead singer Rachael Price, bassist Bridget Kearney, guitarist Mike McDuck Olson, and drummer Mike Calabrese. Also rejoining the group (having initially come aboard in 2017) is their not-so-secret weapon keyboardist/vocalist Akie Bermiss, whose jazzy piano chops and warm vocals help elevate the groups sound throughout. Particularly engaging is Same Old News, an earthy duet between Price and Bermiss that brings to mind the classic 70s work of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. The band conjures equally potent vibes elsewhere, as on the romantic R&B anthem Hypotheticals, and the 80s Phil Collins-style ballad Anymore. Theres also a palpable undercurrent of feminism and progressive social consciousness running throughout the album as Lake Street Dive wrestle with some of the issues their generation and the next seem to be coming to terms with. On Making Do, Price sings, Killer waves and riots/Coming to the coastline soon...I guess its hard to be a human/Its еven harder to be not/Whеn youre making do with what youve got. That said, theres never a sense that Lake Street Dive are preaching with heavy hands, and cuts like the bluesy Hush Money and the lyrical Nobodys Stopping You Now have a universally relatable feeling. That they also evoke the classic album-oriented work of artists like Fleetwood Mac and Carly Simon speaks to Lake Street Dives ever-deepening sense of songcraft. ~ Matt Collar

キュートで親しみやすいキャラにより磨きがかかった3年ぶりの新作。掛け値なしにキャッチーでヴァリエーション豊かな音楽性がここでも大開陳されているが、"Hypothetical"や"Same Old News"といったしなやかなグルーヴに彩られた洗練度の高いナンバーをはじめ、マイク・エリゾンドのプロデュース力もあってモダンな方向にグッと寄りながらよりオープンな地平へ着地することに成功している。マジで幸福感しかない名作。
bounce (C)桑原シロー