Remember the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer discovered that the voice of Entertainment Tonight host Mary Hart sent him into seizures? Well….
There’s a band called Lake Street Dive. They have had a few hits on the radio and they have mounted a few tours across the country, gaining devoted fans along the way. Their music is… well… harmless. It’s breezy, poppy, very “radio-friendly,” with a slight lean towards “blue-eyed soul.”
A friend of mine (who happens to be a disc jokey on a local Philadelphia radio station that frequently plays Lake Street Dive), once said that he hates bands whose singer has a weird voice. Without citing any specific examples, I knew exactly what he meant. In my personal (and worthless) opinion, Rachael Price — the lead singe of Lake Street Dive — has a weird voice. While the band itself feature pretty benign songs that sort of blend in with other non-descript songs I hear on the radio, Rachael’s voice cuts through the music like jagged fingernails on a chalked-up blackboard. When a Lake Street Dive song is announced, I cannot change the station fast enough. I find her voice is grating, abrasive, irritating and just plain unpleasant.
Evidently, I am not alone. Josh Tilman (who performs as “Father John Misty”) once described Rachael’s voice as possessing that soul affectation that white female singers love to put on when singing. I wonder if he changes the radio station as fast as I do.
By the way, I’m sure that Rachael Price is a lovely person. It’s just that voice…