These Oakland indie-fusion veterans have been in a slew of brilliant Bay Area outfits for a long, long time (Aimless Never Miss & Tall Grass to name some of my personal favorites), and all those decade(s)-plus of honing their skills have come into sublime convergence here on "Under Weather”, with an undeniable, fluid grace. Rosie Steffy’s honey-dripping vocals easily parallel that of any early Mirah and Jennifer Feist croonery, but RS’s blend in smoother, &with the instrumental compositions, far more tastefully restrained, so as not to overshadow her sweetly ambling Rhodes piano accompaniment, or the stellar upright bass playing of Aaron Handler, or the percussive prowesses of Daniel Fleischer, who, like the rest, doesn’t simply support the rhythms, but instead adds a whole other vibrant life to the swirling bluesy/jazzy/balkan-folksiness that is La Dee Da.
If you long for the days of “You Think It’s Like This But Really It’s Like This” or “Mushaboom”, you’re gonna wanna have a seat before slapping this tape into your deck. Shoo!
https://ladeeda.bandcamp.com/album/under-weather
and/or
https://ladeeda.xyz/
-- Jacob An Kittenplan