Album of the Week – ‘Side Pony’ by Lake Street Dive

‘Side Pony’ by Lake Street Dive is Eastside Radio’s Album of the Week.

The album is the perfect mix of all of your favourite genres in a pop-sized mouthful. For most, amalgamating Soul, Blues, Rock, Pop, Gospel and Funk into a single album, let alone a song no longer than your average ARIA number one would seem next to impossible. This is the exact territory that founded the Boston-based four piece, within a melting pot of some of the worlds most loved genres, and who are slowly carving out a career for themselves at a global level. ‘Side Pony’ marks their Nonesuch Records debut release, and the quartet set out to show the world what they felt drew them all together, a love of great eclectic music, whimsy and a good time. Unifying features of the album include the ever-present vocal talents of Rachael Price, bringing a reliable strong and harmonious instrument to the table. Although the majority of the album is fairly upbeat, you are able to see glimpses of Price’s vulnerability in rare ballads such as ‘So Long’, utilising subtle vibrato to suggest a possible personal pain connected to the piece.

The album’s lyricism dabbles across the trials and tribulations of relationships, however in true Lake Street Dive fashion, they put these events into perspective with the album’s title track that is pure joy, simplicity, groove and well, a song about nothing really. Bassist Bridget Kearney suggested that, “When we were settling on the album title, that one just stuck out to us as embodying the band’s spirit. We’ve always been this somewhat uncategorisable, weird, outlying, genre-less band. That’s the statement we wanted to make with this record: be yourself.” Adding depth to avoid a shallow pop veneer is a mixture of extremely catchy riffs, often led by guitarist Michael ‘McDuck’ Olson, and various outstanding gospel vocal backings. Great examples of this worth having a listen to include the boisterous rock and roll anthem ‘Hell Yeah’, and the edgy gospel rock smash-up ‘I Don’t Care About You’.

You can follow Lake Street Dive career via their FACEBOOK page, or at https://www.lakestreetdive.com. Be sure to tune in this week to 89.7FM EASTSIDE RADIO for your chance to WIN a copy of ‘Side Pony’ by Lake Street Dive. You must be a supporter to win so make sure to sign up at https://eastsidefm.org/support-us-2/. Don’t forget you can also stream the station at WWW.EASTSIDEFM.ORG.