Lettuce takes fans inside the making of its latest album, Unify, with a new studio video for “Shine”. The enduring future funk sextet’s eighth album, released back in June, completed a trilogy of LPs recorded at Denver’s Colorado Sound Studios beginning with 2019’s Grammy-nominated Elevate and continuing with 2020’s Resonate.
While Colorado Sound became a creative hive for Lettuce for Elevate and Resonate, the environment took on whole new energy for Unify. After being forced to cancel their European tour midway in March 2020 due to the pandemic, Adam Deitch (drums), Ryan Zoidis (saxophone), Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff (guitar), Erick “Jesus” Coomes (bass), Nigel Hall (keyboards/vocals), and Eric “Benny” Bloom (trumpet) spent more time apart from each other than they had in years. So when the time finally came to Unify and get back to doing what they do, the sextet returned with renewed fervor.
“Music is the great unifier and we produced this album with the intention of bringing people together in truth, respect, and love,” Coomes said.
The energy is palpable on “Shine”, which opens in a dreamscape before Deitch drops the band into a trademark groove. The seconds fade into minutes as each member wanders a little further out, with Benny turning the track into late-night radio with a trumpet solo, but never straying too far from the one.
“Lett’s go for a ride in the whip and turn it up!” Shmeeans said. “’Shine’ has both that bumpin’ and relaxing feel all at once. Golden era hip hop feels with a heavy nod to A Tribe Called Quest. Boom bap, a baseline line to make you move, Rhodes, Melodic Horns and Wes guitar octaves keep this one feeling like the warm sun on your face.”
Watch Lettuce perform “Shine” live in the studio. The band has an upcoming performance at Brooklyn Comes Alive on Saturday, September 17th, followed by a stretch of European dates set to begin on the 20th in London. For tickets and a list of dates visit Lettuce’s website.
Lettuce – “Shine” (Studio Performance)
On September 17th, Lettuce will perform at Brooklyn Comes Alive. Live For Live Music‘s long-running event will return to the Brooklyn Mirage for a daylong musical marathon with additional performances from Medeski Martin & Wood, STS9, and the debut of Cool Cool Cool, the new project from former Turkuaz members Craig Brodhead (guitar/keys), Chris Brouwers (trumpet/keys), Michelangelo Carubba (drums), Shira Elias (vocals), Sammi Garett (vocals), Greg Sanderson (tenor sax), and Josh Schwartz (baritone sax/vocals) [get tickets].
