I Love a Love Song!

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Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

I Love a Love Song!, the second album from Rachael & Vilray—Lake Street Dive singer/songwriter Rachael Price and composer, singer, and guitarist Vilray—features eleven new songs written by Vilray plus the 1930s classic "Goodnight My Love" written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel. The album was produced, engineered, and mixed by Dan Knobler and features arrangements from Jacob Zimmerman. Rachael & Vilray’s music’s “easy-swinging mini-big-band arrangement is as cozy as it is sophisticated,” says the New York Times

Description

Rachael & Vilray—the duo of singer/songwriter Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive) and guitarist/singer/songwriter Vilray—returned with their second studio album, I Love a Love Song!, on January 13, 2023. 

Recorded at United Recording in Los Angeles, CA, the twelve-track album was produced, engineered and mixed by Dan Knobler and features arrangements from Jacob Zimmerman. All songs were written by Vilray except for the 1930’s classic “Goodnight My Love,” which was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel.

Of “Is a Good Man Real?,” Vilray says, “Like ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’ (1937), which implies unsaid volumes about high society scolds, describing normal activities then dismissing them snootily, the song is a portrait of the singer’s life drawn in negative space. Rachael sings about decidedly ordinary courtesies and wonders tartly if the man exists who can offer them to her—and we glean much about the awful men she’s been dating without her mentioning them.”

Their previously released album track, “Just Me This Year,” which speaks on the pleasures of spending the winter holidays alone after a welcomed romantic breakup, can be streamed here as well.

Rachael Price and Vilray began performing together in 2015, although they first met in 2003 as students at the New England Conservatory of Music. Vilray formed a couple of bands with Price’s soon-to-be bandmates in Lake Street Dive—Price recalls he had a nimble mind and quick wit when it came to lyrics. It was more than a decade later that Price and Vilray began to collaborate. She had been on the road much of each year with Lake Street Dive and he had been developing his own solo act, just voice and guitar.

In 2019, Rachael & Vilray released their self-titled debut album via Nonesuch Records to critical praise; NPR said, “She can sing anything; he can play anything … Tin Pan Alley meets the Lower East Side in a smoky bar, in songs with a twist of humor.” In addition, the duo performed two songs from their debut—“At Your Mother’s House” and “Do Friends Fall in Love”—on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced and Engineered by Dan Knobler
Recorded April 14-17, 2022 at United Recording, Studio A, Los Angeles, CA
Assistant Engineer: Rouble Kapoor
Mixed by Dan Knobler at Goosehead Palace, Nashville, TN
Mastered by Calbi / Fallone at Sterling Sound, Edgewater, NJ

Photography by Jonno Rattman
Design by Taylor Ashton

Album Status
Artist Name
Rachael & Vilray
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Rachael Price, vocals (1-12)
Vilray, guitar (1-12), vocals (1-12)
David Piltch, bass (1-12)
Joe La Barbera, drums (1-12)
Larry Goldings, piano (1-12), organ (1-12), celeste (1-12)
Jacob Zimmerman, horn arrangements (1, 4, 6, 7, 10), alto saxophone (1, 4, 6, 7, 10), clarinet (1, 4, 6, 7, 10)
Nate Ketner, tenor saxophone (1, 7, 10), clarinet (1, 7, 10)
Jim Ziegler, trumpet (1-9)
Dan Barrett, trombone (1-9), trumpet (10)
Joey Sellers, trombone (10)

reissues?
new-release
Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
Sky Blue LP+MP3
Price
22.00
UPC
075597906639
Label
LP+MP3
Price
21.00
UPC
075597909708
Label
CD+MP3
Price
13.00
UPC
075597909692
Label
88/24 HD FLAC
Price
10.00
UPC
075597909715
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
075597909739

News & Reviews

  • Rachael & Vilray are on the latest episode of the PBS series Poetry in America, focused on Frank O'Hara's "Steps," from his Lunch Poems. They join host Elisa New, choreographer Mark Morris, and poets Terrance Hayes, Robert Pinsky, Todd Colby, and Eileen Myles to read and discuss the poem, an ode to New York City art and dance. You can watch the episode, which also features original music cues performed by Vilray and a band, here.

  • Rachael & Vilray bring music from their latest album, I Love a Love Song!, released earlier this year on Nonesuch, to the US West Coast and Midwest this fall and winter, beginning in California with two nights at Blue Note Napa, December 15 and 16, and a concert at The Troubadour in West Hollywood on December 18. The shows continue in February 2024 with four dates in Colorado and stops in Grand Rapids, Chicago, and Minneapolis. 

  • About This Album

    Rachael & Vilray—the duo of singer/songwriter Rachael Price (Lake Street Dive) and guitarist/singer/songwriter Vilray—returned with their second studio album, I Love a Love Song!, on January 13, 2023. 

    Recorded at United Recording in Los Angeles, CA, the twelve-track album was produced, engineered and mixed by Dan Knobler and features arrangements from Jacob Zimmerman. All songs were written by Vilray except for the 1930’s classic “Goodnight My Love,” which was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel.

    Of “Is a Good Man Real?,” Vilray says, “Like ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’ (1937), which implies unsaid volumes about high society scolds, describing normal activities then dismissing them snootily, the song is a portrait of the singer’s life drawn in negative space. Rachael sings about decidedly ordinary courtesies and wonders tartly if the man exists who can offer them to her—and we glean much about the awful men she’s been dating without her mentioning them.”

    Their previously released album track, “Just Me This Year,” which speaks on the pleasures of spending the winter holidays alone after a welcomed romantic breakup, can be streamed here as well.

    Rachael Price and Vilray began performing together in 2015, although they first met in 2003 as students at the New England Conservatory of Music. Vilray formed a couple of bands with Price’s soon-to-be bandmates in Lake Street Dive—Price recalls he had a nimble mind and quick wit when it came to lyrics. It was more than a decade later that Price and Vilray began to collaborate. She had been on the road much of each year with Lake Street Dive and he had been developing his own solo act, just voice and guitar.

    In 2019, Rachael & Vilray released their self-titled debut album via Nonesuch Records to critical praise; NPR said, “She can sing anything; he can play anything … Tin Pan Alley meets the Lower East Side in a smoky bar, in songs with a twist of humor.” In addition, the duo performed two songs from their debut—“At Your Mother’s House” and “Do Friends Fall in Love”—on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Rachael Price, vocals (1-12)
    Vilray, guitar (1-12), vocals (1-12)
    David Piltch, bass (1-12)
    Joe La Barbera, drums (1-12)
    Larry Goldings, piano (1-12), organ (1-12), celeste (1-12)
    Jacob Zimmerman, horn arrangements (1, 4, 6, 7, 10), alto saxophone (1, 4, 6, 7, 10), clarinet (1, 4, 6, 7, 10)
    Nate Ketner, tenor saxophone (1, 7, 10), clarinet (1, 7, 10)
    Jim Ziegler, trumpet (1-9)
    Dan Barrett, trombone (1-9), trumpet (10)
    Joey Sellers, trombone (10)

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced and Engineered by Dan Knobler
    Recorded April 14-17, 2022 at United Recording, Studio A, Los Angeles, CA
    Assistant Engineer: Rouble Kapoor
    Mixed by Dan Knobler at Goosehead Palace, Nashville, TN
    Mastered by Calbi / Fallone at Sterling Sound, Edgewater, NJ

    Photography by Jonno Rattman
    Design by Taylor Ashton