Boston’s Lake Street Dive Live at Strand July 18‏

Rockland, Maine - The Strand Theatre, 345 Main St., welcomes Lake Street Dive to the Strand’s stage zThursday, July 18 at 8pm.

Pulling in familiar elements and irreverently scrambling and recombining them, Lake Street Dive, are at once jazz-schooled, DIY-motivated, and classically pop obsessed.

The band first came together at Boston’s New England Conservatory. Beginning with catchy songs that are by turns openhearted and wryly inquisitive, the northeastern quartet injects them with an irresistible blend of abandon and precision. Composed of drummer Mike Calabrese, bassist Bridget Kearney, vocalist Rachael Price, and trumpet-wielding guitarist Mike “McDuck” Olson, Lake Street Dive encompasses a myriad of possibilities within its members’ collective experiences, and the resultant music is a vivid, largely acoustic, groove-driven strain of indie-pop. “It seems the only limitation we have,” Kearney explains, “ is that we try to make music that we would like listening to.”

Lake Street Dive makes the most of pop music virtues: solid, evocative song craft; propulsive grooves; and Price’s disarming, forthright vocals. However, it’s a personal strain of pop that is refracted through the band members’ rich backgrounds: a sinewy Motown bass line is reborn with woody heft on Kearney’s upright, Calabrese’s drumming mixes timekeeping with more adventurous jazz-inflected outbursts, McDuck’s nimble trumpet is an unexpectedly warm counterpoint to Price’s singing.

It all makes for a sound with familiar roots, but with a slant that is entirely their own. Lake Street Dive’s eventual artistic breakthrough came not without struggle, and still surprises original instigator Mike “McDuck” Olson. “Now we’re a pop band, leaning very heavily on soul and rock, with hook-y writing, which I never expected,” he concludes. “If I could travel through time, I’d go back six years and play the new record for my younger self, just to assure him that the awkward, new-band phase doesn’t last forever.”

Tickets are $15 and on sale now for this all ages shows. The Strand balcony and lobby bars will be open for those ages 21+ with a valid ID. For more information on all upcoming live concerts, films, HD broadcasts, and events at the Strand, visit www.rocklandstrand.com. Tel: (207) 594-0070 EX 3  Email: info@rocklandstrand.com