The Dip Bring Fresh Grooves to Old-time Soul Sounds on ‘Sticking With It’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Photo credit: Jake Magraw

The Dip is a seven-piece band from Seattle that has built quite an impressive following (nearly a million monthly Spotify listeners as of this writing) with its lively, soulful sound. On its first two albums, the band showed some similarities to Orgone and Eli “Paperboy” Reed and The True Loves.

The new album Sticking With It is the band’s first for Dualtone Records. It was recorded in the Seattle studio that the band created for itself. Spontaneity was a big part of the recording process. Of the album, drummer Jarred Katz said, “It’s really important to us to catch those lightning-in-a-bottle moments when you can feel the momentum of a song taking shape.”

That spirit of spontaneity resulted in something different for the band in the first song “Paddle to the Stars”. In discussing the track, guitarist Jacob Lundgren said, “We ended up going with a very dry sound with no reverb behind it, which allows you to really hear the room and feels so much more like the live show.” Even if you’ve never seen the band, you can hear that the guitar is similar to Daptone artists like The Mighty Imperials. The guitar isn’t the only part of the song that will grab your attention. The rhythm section (especially the bass line) will get you moving while the backing vocals and the horns bring brightness to the song.

Sometimes you connect with a song simply because you can relate to it so deeply. “Vacation” is one of those songs. Yes, it is a song about needing a vacation, which is something that just about everyone (especially in the U.S.) can relate to. It begins with the lyrics, “Well, another year came and went. I came up with another 12 months of rent.” At this point, you’ve only heard a small fraction of the song, but you’re completely hooked because you can feel that sentiment deep in your soul. If anything, you feel it even more when you hear the lyrics, “I need to get lost before I lose my mind.” The song is upbeat and groovy and will be an excellent addition to any vacation playlist.

Whether it’s a slow jam like “Eye to Eye” or a psychedelic hip-shaker like “Appolonia”, this band brings the old-time soul sounds to each song. You can hear it in the horn swells, the guitar tone, and the backing vocals. You can also hear it in the rhythms that will get you moving even if the song is a slow jam. Sticking With It by The Dip isn’t just a solid (like Eddie Griffin says in Undercover Brother) soul album. It’s also a musical antidepressant with no prescription needed. It is the kind of album you can put on anytime you want to put yourself in a better mood and dance your troubles away.

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