Lake Street Dive brought it all back around on Friday with the release of Fun Machine: The Sequel. The collection of six covers by artists including Carole King, Shania Twain, Bonnie Raitt, and more comes ten years after the release of the original Fun Machine EP.
Even for a band with such revered songwriting talents as Lake Street Dive, there’s something unavoidably enjoyable about hearing the group dish out covers. The band honored some of its greatest inspirations including Carole King with “So Far Away”. LSD’s admiration for King is well-documented, with the band delivering an acoustic version of the same Tapestry cut as a Variety exclusive last year in the midst of COVID lockdowns.
“I’ve been playing this song, like, every day in quarantine for eight months,” vocalist Rachael Price told Variety. “It’s one of my favorite songs of all time. It really soothes me. I’m in love with every song on Tapestry, but as a singer, I think there’s just something perfect about ‘So Far Away’ that makes it feels so good to sing. As a touring musician, there are a lot of relatable lyrics, and not a lot of people can write about touring in a way that doesn’t feel a little bit contrived. There’s nothing trite about this song — it captures the feeling of touring and feeling really lonely so well.”
The tracklist also features The Pointer Sisters‘ “Automatic”, Dionne Warwick‘s “Anyone Who Had A Heart”, Shania Twain‘s “You’re Still The One”, Raitt’s “Nick Of Time”, and The Cranberries‘ “Linger”. While it would surely have been a joy to hear Price take on “You’re Still The One”, keyboardist/vocalist Akie Bermiss shines in the spotlight on the Shania Twain cover, giving Harry Styles a run for his money as the best to do it justice.
“Imagine you walk into your favorite local dive bar and Lake Street Dive is on stage, doing our regular weekly gig for $5 a head,” the group wrote of the project. “These are the songs we’d be covering there and how we’d be playing them. Some deep cuts, some sentimental favorites and some (hopefully) epic crowd pleasers.”
Stream the new Lake Street Dive covers EP Fun Machine: The Sequel below or on your preferred platform. The band is currently on tour, playing tonight, September 9th, at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. with support from Allen Stone.
Lake Street Dive – Fun Machine: The Sequel