Bad Self Portraits is the sophomore album of Lake Street Dive, a multi-genre band with music taking influence from jazz, soul, and indie-pop. February 18th, 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the album’s release and the band has released a remastered vinyl edition in its honor.
Finding Lake Street Dive’s music was one of the first times that I felt like I was finding myself. Their music is not something my mom or sister listened to (or listen to to this day) and they felt like a band of my own. I first found them through Bad Self Portraits and I was so taken by the vibes and the story that they are telling in this album, that I have been following them ever since.
In honor of the 10th anniversary, I decided to listen to the album in its entirety (in order) to remind myself of just how great listening to an entire album (instead of just the songs I added to playlists) can be.
Track 1 – Bad Self Portraits
This was the first Lake Street Dive (LSD) song that I found and honestly started my current obsession with them. I hooked onto the idea that even when you start something for or with another person, you don’t stop because they are gone. People come in and out of life, but you always need to be there for yourself, whether you take bad self-portraits or not.
Track 2 – Stop your crying
Oh here I go again, LSD distracts me with an upbeat song that makes me want to dance but is actually about a toxic relationship and not holding firm boundaries. I’ve never related more to the idea of “My rage a ticking bomb / I’m not very hard to disarm / You know I’ll be the one to let you back in”.
Track 3 – Better Than
God Rachael can sing and that trumpet!! I’m swaying back and forth listening to this and it is the most tranquil way I could have spent a Friday night. This song was made for a slow solo dance with a Woodwick candle and a glass of wine. Better than being some fool’s bride. Choosing yourself over what other people tell you to do is a hard choice, but it’s the one that will help you the most in the end.
Track 4 – Rabid animal
Is it another night wasted in this relationship? Listening to this album as a whole says so much more about toxic relationships now than I heard 10 years ago.
Track 5 – you go down smooth
That bridge! The harmonies. 😍 Is this song a religious experience? I am too sober not to know that you might be my problem, not my love and I am too sober not to know that this is my favorite Lake Street song.
track 6 – use me up
The bass has no right to vibe like that right from the get-go. I don’t always know what’s good for me either so don’t feel too bad about giving your all to someone who doesn’t deserve it.
track 7 – bobby tanqueray
The way this song feels like a little rock interlude in the midst of heartbreak is unmatched (is this style a metaphor for the release that a rebound is?? or am I reading too much into this?)
track 8 – just ask
I love the way that the music flows with the lyrics and vocals, the combination is intoxicating. Are intoxication and infatuation just the same thing? Is this metaphor opening up a whole new way of thinking about love for me? If love is an addiction and there’s a rehab for every kind is this album a rehab for the brokenhearted?
track 9 – seventeen
Oh, are we getting male vocals now?? Life and love are things that we never stop learning more about, but if I was 17 and naive it could be a good time like this song is.
track 10 – what about me
If one thing should be on your mind, what about me? Oh, how I love a confident woman who knows her worth! If anyone has another song that is funky like this and makes me want to dance this much, send it my way please, and thank you!
track 11 – rental love
“Jealous of your old girl / I wanted to be your whole world” is so damn heartbreaking. Thinking about pouring yourself into a relationship and all you get at the end of it is this emotionally draining rental. Lake Street Dive really took me on an emotional rollercoaster where I both loved and lost.
I think that I learned more about love and relationships through one album than I have in my whole life so far. The way that Lake Street Dive utilizes their instruments and vocals to tell a story is absolutely incredible and I will be listening to this album over and over again for years to come.