ALBUM REVIEW: Lake Street Dive Applies Joyful, Intrepid Sound to More ‘Fun Machine’ Covers

Love is complex, ever-changing, and often hard to express accurately in words — much like the joyful and infectious sound of Lake Street Dive. Their uniqueness shines through on Fun Machine: The Sequel, as they maintain that stylistic ambiguity on love songs that they didn’t even write themselves.

Lake Street Dive (photo by Shervin Lainez)

The band parted ways with guitarist/trumpeter/founding member Mike “McDuck” Olson shortly after the release of their last album, Obviously (ND review), but singer Rachael Price, bassist Bridget Kearney, and drummer Mike Calabrese return to the covers project they began with 2012’s Fun Machine alongside new(er) additions Akie Bermiss on keys and James Cornelison on guitar.

The EP opens strong with the Pointer Sisters’ “Automatic,” the band trading layered synths for warm “oohs” and belted harmonies, and Dionne Warwick’s “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” though the first three tracks are highlighted by a downtempo rendition of the Shania Twain’ hit “You’re Still the One.” With Bermiss taking the spotlight on vocals and the band leaning back on the beat, it is impossible not to bop your head and smile to this tune, though that smile snarls into stank with Cornelison’s distorted guitar solo.

While the energy drops with a cover of “So Far Away,” Lake Street Dive’s instrumentation on the piano-heavy Carole King ballad makes the original feel lacking (no disrespect to King Carole). Cornelison’s compressed sound dancing gently behind Kearney’s stout bassline shifts emphasis to the joy of time spent together rather than the pain of being apart.

“Nick of Time” kicks the tempo back up to the Lake Street Dive standard. Price admits in the EP’s liner notes that, aside from an a “dancier” beat, this Bonnie Raitt tune did not undergo tremendous change for this project (it didn’t need to), but The Cranberries’ “Linger” is reworked almost completely. In the liner notes, the band states that they “hope to dance new steps into the timeless pain of this oft-forgotten bop,” and they did … but at what cost?

Considering the zhuzhing that the other tracks received, “Linger,” while well done, feels like a mismatch between the band’s energy and the song’s evidently inextricable Irish sadness. The absence of Dolores O’Riordan’s distinctive jagged lilt is felt, and with it the feeling of the lyrics that made this song such a staple for The Cranberries. While a cover sounding much different than the original is often a welcome change, I feel like I shouldn’t want to get up and dance to this one as much I do. That being said, I still do want to get up and dance to it … the synth-y ’80s rearrangement is undeniably groovy.

Lake Street Dive delivers on its second go-round of the Fun Machine project, proving that their virtuosic talent will get listeners on their feet no matter who writes the song.

Lake Street Dive’s Fun Machine: The Sequel was released Sept. 9 on Fantasy Records.