![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/lake_street_dive_audrey.jpg\")
Lake Street Dive at The Orange Peel, Asheville NC
photo \u00a92019 Audrey Hermon Kopp<\/p><\/div>\n
Olson says that the addition of Bermiss has changed the band\u2019s approach to song arrangements. \u201cBefore we started touring with Akie, there were a lot of spaces\u201d in the band\u2019s sound, he explains. \u201cEffectively being a power trio, our tendency was to fill up those spaces with oohs and ahhs and things of that nature, always heaping more things on.\u201d With Berman adding keyboard textures, the other musicians all play a bit differently. The expanded lineup \u201cfrees me up to play more lead guitar versus constantly chunking out chords,\u201d Olson says.<\/p>\n
And trumpet \u2013 a prominent and often signature sound in much of Lake Street Dive\u2019s earlier releases \u2013 is less prominent on the newer material as well. Olson says that these days the group finds it \u201cfar more challenging to write songs that are sort of appropriate for trumpet. Especially for me as the person who plays it, the trumpet can feel sort of gimmicky after a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olson says that because Lake Street Dive\u2019s music is rooted in what he describes as \u201ca British invasion and soul rhythm section tradition,\u201d many of the songs on the new album are more rooted in the bass\/drums\/guitar\/vocals format. But fans of the group\u2019s trumpet-adorned work need not go unsatisfied. The new EP features plenty of Olson\u2019s horn playing.<\/p>\n
And since the passing of Aretha Franklin, the members of Lake Street Dive have been spending a lot of time listening to the 1971 album Aretha Live at the Fillmore West<\/i>. That record is an exciting audio document of a performance featuring saxophonist King Curtis and the Memphis Horns. \u201cI\u2019m not going to make any solid predictions here,\u201d Olson cautions, \u201cbut an album is very much a snapshot of where a band is at that particular moment. And what we\u2019re listening to at a given time influences us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside plenty of original material, the band\u2019s collective love of cover versions can reinforce the notion of Lake Street Dive as a \u201cretro\u201d band. But that doesn\u2019t greatly concern Olson. \u201cWe try to incorporate one or two covers into any set,\u201d Olson says. \u201cBecause covers tend to be the way that our fans gained entry into our music.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lake Street Dive\u2019s breakthrough 2012 EP Fun Machine<\/i> was an mostly-covers collection, featuring reinventions of songs by George Michael, Paul McCartney and others. Coupled with the \u201cI Want You Back\u201d viral video (a version of that song is also on the EP), the release helped catapult the group into the wider public consciousness. Once again hedging his bets just a bit (\u201cwe don\u2019t have any studio time booked,\u201d he says), Olson allows that the band is considering \u201ca followup to Fun Machine<\/i>\u201d in the near future.<\/p>\n
Whether or not that project comes to fruition, it\u2019s a safe bet that Lake Street Dive will continue its practice of using a different producer for each album. \u201cHonestly, we have always sort of scratched our heads about the role of producer within the context of our band,\u201d Olson admits. While a traditional role of a producer includes being an arbiter during creative discussions, things aren\u2019t so simple for Lake Street Dive.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there are four equal voices and opinions \u2013 five now with Akie \u2013 a producer is often just another voice in kind of a chorus in the studio,\u201d Olson says. \u201cWe have a hard time saying, \u2018Okay, everyone shut up and listen to one person,\u2019 because we value one another\u2019s opinions so highly.\u201d<\/p>\n
After what he characterizes as \u201cplay[ing] the \u2018name producer game\u2019 with Dave Cobb for 2016\u2019s Side Pony<\/i>, Olson notes that the group returned to \u201ca more collaborative vibe,\u201d working with Dan Knobler for Free Yourself Up<\/i>. Along the way, the band keeps learning and improving. \u201cFree Yourself Up<\/i> made a synthesis of [our earlier] experiences, and transcended those experiences,\u201d Olson says. \u201cAnd we made a better record for it.\u201d<\/p>\n