Having started out as a genre-bending indie outfit, Boston's
Lake Street Dive
have matured into sophisticated purveyors of vintage-inspired soul, funk, and adult contemporary pop. It's a sound that helped make 2018's
Free Yourself Up
such a delightful surprise, and one which they further perfect on their seventh album, 2021's 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 group's 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
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." There's also a palpable undercurrent of feminism and progressive social consciousness running throughout the album as
wrestle with some of the issues their generation and the next seem to be coming to terms with. On "Making Do,"
sings, "Killer waves and riots/Coming to the coastline soon...I guess it's hard to be a human/It's even harder to be not/When you're making do with what you've got." That said, there's never a sense that
are preaching with heavy hands, and cuts like the bluesy "Hush Money" and the lyrical "Nobody's Stopping You Now" have a universally relatable feeling. That they also evoke the classic album-oriented work of artists like
Fleetwood Mac
Carly Simon
speaks to
's ever-deepening sense of songcraft. ~ Matt Collar