Infinite Playlists

Lake Street Drive on Flickr.

Lake Street Dive: Bad Self Portraits

Lake Street Dive Bad Self Portraits (Signature Sounds) 3.5 out of 5 stars

From Lake Street Dive’s initial presence on TV and radio, one might have guessed their major influences included Manhattan Transfer. But it turns out that, even though this foursome is jazz-trained, the references permeating Bad Self Portraits lean far more toward Motown, Stax, Muscle Shoals and Tapestry-era Carole King, not to mention the British Invasion. It also turns out that combining earthiness and soul, girl-group harmonies and nods to early rock adds up to charm incarnate without cloying cuteness.

Songs such as the album’s centerpiece, “You Go Down Smooth,” affirm the collective wisdom of more than a million YouTube hitters who caught Lake Street Dive’s street-corner acoustic version of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” after Kevin Bacon tweeted it. “Smooth” is a fabulous tune, a rocking floor-filler that gives a real showcase to these formidable voices. Lead vocalist Rachel Price, who sounds like she could have grown up in Motown but is actually from Hendersonville, Tennessee, is a powerhouse, but upright bassist Bridget Kearney (formerly of Joy Kills Sorrow) holds her own in the vocal harmony department. And on “Use Me Up” and elsewhere, you can hear each vibration of her thick bass strings as she slaps them around their shared vocal swoops.

Amazing!

Stromae - Papaoutai