Deep Dive 

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• Big Hassle / provided
• Lake Street Dive

Behind the soulful melodies and clever instrumentation of songs like “Good Kisser” and “I Can Change” is a band that has been growing together for almost 15 years and over the course of several albums.

The four original members of Lake Street Dive met at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and are classically trained. They formed the band in 2004.

Rachael Price provides the band’s formidable lead vocals while Bridget Kearney rocks the upright bass. Drummer Mike Calabrese gives the music a heartbeat, Mike “McDuck” Olson adds brightness on trumpet and guitar and recent addition Akie Bermiss has freshened up their sound with his keyboards.

Their music is a fascinating amalgam. It’s poppy and accessible but also elevated by its jazz and soul sensibilities. Sometimes the ear can catch a hint of Muscle Shoals and a kind of ’60s-style rock. It’s both quirky and classic, a complex dance of beats and funky note combinations.

“That’s been a big focus for us,” Kearney said. “Just not wanting things to ever get stale and continuing to incorporate different musical elements and lyrical elements to keep everything fresh.”

The band’s latest studio album, Free Yourself Up, was released in May 2018. Kearney said the band experienced several big changes while working on the record.

For one thing, keyboardist Bermiss joined them on tour in 2017 but now is officially the band’s fifth member, and he sang on the newest album.

Kearney explained that the idea for adding a keyboardist happened “sort of by accident.” When they toured with jazz musician Joey Dosik last year, they tried to get him to join their main set, but he declined. They realized they wanted that sound, and Bermiss was able to provide it.

“Even since then, I think what he’s been able to add has grown a lot as he’s gotten more into the role,” Kearney said. “I think the style of his playing is a really great addition for the band. I’m constantly turning my head to his side of the stage, being like, ‘Oh, that was nice, what you just did there.’”

The band also self-produced its latest release, giving it a new measure of control over the sound of the music, which would account for some of the stylistic changes it has made.

Kearney acknowledged that the band generally leans toward the songwriting styles of the 1960s and 1970s, but on Free Yourself Up, the band members wanted to contrast those lyrics with more modern-sounding musical tones.

“We were responsible for all of those choices,” she said. “And a lot of that is saying, ‘Well, what kind of drum sound are we going for here? Is it like a roomy, open, throwback sound, or is it like a modern, burst-out-of-your-radio sound?’”

The self-producing was a team effort that went surprisingly well, Kearney said, and they learned a great deal.

Another big shift for the new album was in the songwriting itself. Kearney said the band felt its music was “a good vehicle” to explore its feelings on current events.

“In terms of the writing process, I think we expanded our focus on this record a little bit to be inclusive of the things that we’ve always talked about,” Kearney said. “Interpersonal relationships and the highs and lows of human experience, but also including some thoughts about what’s going on in the world these days and how that’s affected us and has affected other people.”

Such references are there, but they are small and don’t distract.

For example, on “Doesn’t Even Matter Now,” Price points out, “’Cause when a breakup’s on the table, the lady’s always called ‘unstable.’” In peppy “Dude,” a sly reference is made to best buds “Joe and Obama” as an example of a strong relationship. And perhaps most relatable is upbeat but anxiety-laced “Baby Don’t Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts,” which finds the band jamming even though “an old man, an old man has got his little hands on the button.”

This mix of clever, impactful lyrics and vibrant instrumentation has almost certainly contributed to the band’s growing popularity. Another element that has steadily boosted its recognition is its YouTube channel.

In 2012, Lake Street Dive played an outdoor jam session in Boston and filmed its cover of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” The video went viral. It took the band only about six minutes to make, but Kearney called it a “game changer” for the band’s career. Since then, it has uploaded fairly regularly.

“I think sometimes the videos are an inspiration for us to refine our arrangement of the song and the way we perform it,” Kearney said.

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• Free Yourself Up

It has also posted several Halloween videos in which band members dress up as other bands and perform covers. Its popular take on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” is now even occasionally incorporated into its live performances. Kearney said she hopes they can do another Halloween cover this year.

The group is on tour right now in support of Free Yourself Up and has been traveling steadily since May. On Sept. 6, it achieved a longtime goal of headlining at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Even on tour, Kearney and the other band members are always writing and learning. Kearney is even doing what she called “production transcriptions” of the Beatles’ album Rubber Soul to pick up methods of arranging and producing for the next record.

Kearney admitted not everyone sleeps well on the tour bus and it’s difficult to be away from family, but the band loves performing and getting out to various parts of the country.

“At this point, because we’ve been doing it for so long, in most places, we have people we know,” she said. “We’ve been to Oklahoma City a couple times and even were there earlier this year on a day off, just passing through.”

Lake Street Dive’s previous OKC gigs include a night at The Blue Door in April 2013 and a performance at The Jones Assembly in August 2017.

“The Blue Door concert was really memorable and fun because we met someone afterwards named Doc who read our palms for us in a way that was pretty scarily accurate,” Kearney said. “So that was really fun, and we always had a good impression of Oklahoma City since then.”

Kearney also praised The Jones Assembly and downtown OKC as an area where “interesting new art” is developing.

She invited local music fans to “put [their] dancing shoes on and … thinking caps on at the same time and see what happens.”

Lake Street Dive plays with Matt Stansberry & The Romance on Sept. 27 at The Jones Assembly.

Visit thejonesassembly.com.