Lake Street Dive, “What I’m Doing Here” (2014): One Track Mind

Share this:

Rachel Price sings with an oaken grace, adding a gospel-tinged depth of emotion to Lake Street Dive’s “What I’m Doing Here,” one of the rare and unreleased tracks to be included on Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection: Rarities from the Second Decade.

Most striking of all, as the above video illustrates, is how it all unfolds without artifice, without retakes, without technology. Such is that voice’s magic and wonder that, really, it almost doesn’t matter what the material is.

“What I’m Doing Here” proves a worthy foil. You’re left with dizzying skill matched with a voice of ardent import matched with a lyric that closes a hand around your heart.

Lake Street Dive is coming off its own signature year, having placed the album Bad Self Portraits at No. 7 on the Americana Music Association’s Top 100 airplay chart. “What I’m Doing Here” also saw release as an exclusive seven-inch vinyl single for Record Store Day.

Due on March 3, 2015, Signature Sounds 20th Anniversary Collection: Rarities from the Second Decade also features tracks from Chris Smither, Eilen Jewell, Crooked Still and others.

Nick DeRiso