LAKE STREET DIVE

GOOD TOGETHER

Good Together: Akie

When the prospect of love sneaks up on two inveterate villains, they must consider the consequences of doing something so out of character as falling in love. Before this, they've been total baddies -- but they can't deny how good it feels to *be* good together.

Dance With a Stranger: Bridget

A song inspired by a square dance, where folks from different communities all come together and get a chance to dance together. I wanted to create a moment for this to happen at our shows–that would invite people to stop looking at the stage for a song and look around at all the other people in the room and get to know each other a little bit! In a time where politics and the internet can be so divisive, this felt like an antidote to that animosity. Get EVERYBODY in a room together and let them DANCE!

I went to a square dance at the VFW Hall in Kingston, NY while I was up there on a little solo writing retreat. I was struck by what a beautiful gathering it was, with people coming in from all different communities, different ages, from the city, from the country…and anybody could dance with anybody! The first person who asked me to dance was a man in a very colorful floral shirt who was probably in his 70s and we had a great time spinning around the floor! In a time where politics and the internet can be so divisive, this felt like an antidote to that animosity. Get EVERYBODY in a room together and let them DANCE! I wanted to write something that could create a moment for this to happen at our own shows. That would invite people to stop looking at the stage for a song and look around at all the other people in the room and get to know each other a little bit! My dream is that when we take this record on tour we can get the audience up and dancing with their neighbors on this song! Make some strangers into friends!

Far Gone: Bridget

The technological advances that have occurred in our lifetime on the planet have been nothing short of dizzying and there’s no sign that Pandora’s box will be closing any time soon. “Far Gone” is an effort to jump on board and enjoy the ride, as terrifying as it can be sometimes. Welcome to the deep end, get ready for the dive!

Get Around: Mike

The work is never done, there are no endpoints, there are no material exceptions to anybody’s struggles. These are philosophical take-aways from witnessing the ways in which people try to escape their troubles through the delusive measures of power or singular self-regard. To get around these troubles, or these people, you must first get around the misconception. And perhaps the difference between yourself and your problems isn’t so much a difference, but a perception.

Help Is On the Way: Rachael

One day, like many other days, I was obsessing over my skin, or my muscle tone, or if I was taking the right probiotics or if I needed to make an appointment with an intuitive healer to give me a meditation to stop eating chips all the time. I then thought to myself, “Will anyone care if I look different/better? Does it do anything for the world? For society? For the planet?”

The answer was obvious and I wrote a note down to try for a song about my and well everyone’s obsession with self help. While the band was having a songwriting retreat I threw the idea out and this song came along with the wonderful work of Bridget and Akie.

Walking Uphill: Rachael

I found the line while flipping through an old journal entry from many years ago: “it feels like I’m walking uphill now” and I was struck by the sentiment. This is a song about how the hard work is the joy, the struggle is what you lean into and in that struggle you accept that the hard times in life are also the beautiful times.

Better Not Tell You: Akie

Just about to fall in love. Just about to take the plunge. Your eyes meet, your lips part, you lean-in, your heart races. In that moment, you can see it all unfolding just as miraculously as you’d always hoped. You have fantasies, you have dreams, you have plans — the both of you. But everything teeters upon the knife’s edge of courage, daring, passion, and the magic of a first kiss. It’s so fragile, that instant, that you dare not say a word. Just keep looking and learning and coming together. You know all the wonderful ways that it could go, but now is not the time for telling. It is the time to act.

The truth is, I grew up on musicals. And I love it when the two leads are about to come together for a kiss and instead of just getting to it, they do a whole song-and-dance about it. This is a song for one of those moments. In real life, the tension builds and time seems to slow and the world revolves around you and your beloved. And you know that the only thing that could ruin it would be to suddenly blurt out something about how crazy the moment feels. Instead, you keep it to yourself and hope that you’re both about to fall over the edge into love. But I can’t help thinking how incredible the world would be if, when emotions ranged higher than our hearts can bear, we could break out into a song. And everyone else at the bar or restaurant or on the street corner would know all the words and all the steps — and love would be the big “eleven o’clock number” that brings the house down.

Seats At the Bar: Mike

My wife and I often frequent the bar, even at fancier establishments, when going out. Her job was spent in restaurants at one time and she preferred to avoid the performance of the dining experience, which is usually highly curated at a spot trying to make an impression. The bar is faster, cozier, and usually less fussy. The important part of a date is the other person, not the place (or placement).

Twenty-Five: Bridget

A song celebrating a love that wasn’t built to last but was magical and meaningful and true, if only for a short time. A human connection, even if it doesn’t end in marriage or kids or two gravestones side by side on a hillside, can still be treasured. Whatever the future holds, whoever else our paths may cross with down the line, we can carry along love and gratitude for the time we spent loving each other.

Rachael threw this idea out as something that might be cool to have a song about: what if there was a “break-up” song that was positively reflecting on a relationship from your past that wasn’t built to last, but was beautiful while it did? A sort of love letter to a past relationship that says “hey, I know it didn’t work out between us forever, but I’m still grateful for the love we gave each other and the time we had together.” I love the idea that we can look back with love on something even though it wasn’t perfect and even though it didn’t last forever. That the ending of a relationship doesn’t have to somehow sour what came before it. I wanted to build some things into the song that showed that imperfection and impermanence–he lives in California, she lives in Boston. He’s an introvert, she’s an extrovert. They are opposites, like the bitter hot coffee and sweet cold ice cream in an affogato. And like that affogato, their love will not last long. But it can still be magical and meaningful and true, even if only for a short time.

Party On the Roof: Bridget

A love letter to New York City and rooftop parties where you invite the whole building and all the neighbors. We are all here together in each other’s business, at times smashed up uncomfortably next to each other on a crowded subway car but at times partying together on a rooftop somewhere on a summer night, sipping a beer from the bodega, and looking out at the glimmering lights of the skyline.

Set Sail (Prometheus & Eros): Akie

This started as a demo that Bridget sent me the first bit of just before I got on a flight to Japan. She told me that she pictured two humans landing on a new planet after narrowly escaping the destruction of Earth with nothing but their love (and their spaceship?) intact. For whatever reason, the voice memo was titled “Prometheus and Eros.” It occurred to me that maybe the people on that planet weren’t just humans but some reincarnation of the aforementioned gods. Eros, who brought love to humanity, and Prometheus, the titan who stole fire from heaven and gave it to mortals. About as different from each other as any two “entities” could be. From there it wasn’t too hard to continue the story (especially with thirteen hours to kill).. Suddenly, it was a duet and it was an EPIC tale. A little bit love story, a little bit space opera, a little bit creation myth…

But whoever they were, these intrepid lovers, they were strangers in a strange land having nothing but each other. In the end, whether narrative or allegory, epyllion or simple love song, it made perfect sense. And this song concludes the album the same way in which it began: a song about two conflicted people with a great deal of history behind them but the potential for anything in front of them They sing, they weep, they love — and they hold hands as they step unto the verge of something new.

For more information, please contact Samantha Tillman or Carla Sacks 212.741.1000 at Sacks & Co.

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