The Dip

The Dip is a Seattle-based Rhythm and Blues band that is known for its poignant songwriting, detailed arrangements, and vintage sound. Featuring a three-piece horn section, the group’s music harkens back to earlier soul and funk influences while hinting at the jazz foundations that brought the band’s members together. Along with singer and guitarist Tom Eddy, bassist Mark Hunter and drummer Jarred Katz are equally at home in a tight-pocketed groove as they are spacious free-improvisation. Trumpet player Brennan Carter joined by saxophonists Evan Smith and Levi Gillis serve as the band’s melodic counterpoint, playing off Eddy’s vocals to create a distinct sonic character that has drawn in millions of listeners to date. 

Love Direction, the follow-up to 2022’s Sticking With It (which landed at #1 on the Billboard Current R&B Albums Chart) is the band’s fourth full-length studio album and second for Dualtone Records. After recording their previous two records in their own Seattle rehearsal space, the band began tracking this album in Seattle’s Avast! Recording Studios, where they completed their first Self-Titled LP in 2015. Looking to push into the unfamiliar, the band then decamped to Los Angeles’ 64 Sound where they turned the keys over to audio engineer Josh Block to put a new stamp on the band’s signature style. Buoyed by a talented roster of guest musicians, the result is a dynamic 11-song collection that showcases the group’s distinctive driving sound alongside moments of introspection and nuance laid bare. 

The interplay of old and new is on full display in the album’s title track, “Love Direction,” as Eddy’s familiarly funky guitar line gives way to a wash of atmospheric flute trills. Echoing whistles in the song’s breaks contribute to a sense of spacious loneliness as Eddy’s lyrics investigate the winding road of partnerships. He says of the track’s inspiration: “As you get further along in a relationship, sometimes you lose your way. The things that came easily in the beginning get hard. The love is still there, it’s just that people and life are complicated. Sometimes you don’t have the tools in the toolbox to figure out what you need to do to support the other person, so you have to get help and ask for directions.”

“Fill My Cup” dives headfirst into the album’s theme, expressing appreciation of a partner’s love and commitment. The lush pedal-steel throughout signifies another marker of the band searching for new sounds on this latest record and creates a floating juxtaposition to Katz’s rolling snare pattern. Tight-knit horn harmonies answer Eddy’s vocals and firmly identify the band’s style while showcasing an intimacy that is heightened throughout the record.

Still, despite the title, this latest record isn’t a collection of straightforward love songs, but an investigation into the different angles and challenges that relationships can bring. Expanding on the album’s theme, Eddy notes “These aren’t ‘Love Songs’ in the most obvious sense. They deal with the middle stages, the hinterlands of love and life together - figuring someone out and what they need, learning how to communicate, and examining your own faults. We set out to write music that felt more grown, a little wiser. The songs that emerged all pointed in the Love Direction.”

Notably, the gritty “Doing The Thing” speaks to frustration and the incompatibility that can become unveiled over time. A hard-driving bass and guitar link couples with a powerful horn unison to elevate Eddy’s exclamation that “Your heart just ain’t in it!” The song’s defiant confidence is a marker of this new album’s breadth. Eschewing retread notions of love and longing, the record investigates both relationships and the self through many different lenses.

The sonic atmospheres the band has created on Love Direction are as diverse as the songs’ lyrical explorations. Hunter’s upright bass playing is the backbone of the ballad “Humble Hands.” Drum machine grooves augment Katz’s work on the danceable “Sharpen Your Shovel,” while Eddy’s vocals are tinged with a spinning Leslie cabinet that reinforces the track’s insistent movement. While the band’s brass unit has been known colloquially as The Honeynut Horns, the timbral variety of Love Direction goes beyond what most people conjure up from a traditional horn section. Carter’s sensitive harmon mute elicits the work of Miles Davis, while Gillis and Smith can be heard on bass clarinet and flute in an homage to the influences of Eric Dolphy and Yusef Lateef.

The band’s jazz connection also led to their most ambitious video project to date. Inspired by a 1950’s Wes Montgomery video, the band built their own elaborate stage set to extend their recordings into the visual world on a scale surpassing anything they had attempted previously. Katz says of the process: “We were thinking about how, back in the day, sets were more common in videos and there were different types of production. It was more about what people could build with their hands and by using their imaginations as opposed to computers – we were really drawn to that.” The band has long operated with a DIY sensibility, and in this instance, Eddy and Carter drew up the plans, ordered the lumber, and spearheaded the five-day construction of a massive setpiece in Seattle’s Harbor Island Studios. Eddy follows, noting that “it’s similar to recording the music. There are certain things that are more labor intensive, but you can’t cut that corner. You have to understand the process of doing it.” He continues with a laugh, “I think this is in our wheelhouse of doing the most.” Culminating in two days of shooting with director and longtime friend Jake Magraw, the result is stunning collection of videos that seamlessly augment this new record’s sound, offering a cinematic time capsule with a modern edge.

Whatever the influence, Love Direction is the sound of a band taking the next step forward. Hunter reflects that “the production of this album was completely different than anything we’ve made before. It was a big leap for us working out of our comfort zone and trusting each other, the people behind the team, and the songwriting itself.” Gillis confirms, saying “I think we were really exploring sonically and asking each other for directions too at times.” Undoubtedly, this trust has been fortified by the band’s extensive touring experience. Their last album cycle saw the band headline and sell-out shows at iconic venues such as the Fillmore San Francisco, Brooklyn Steel, and two nights at the Showbox Market in their Seattle hometown. They have also had the opportunity to support new friends like Lake Street Dive and The Black Pumas, while also appearing at major festivals including Bonnaroo and Outside Lands.

No strangers to the road indeed, this new album represents a reflection on the band’s touring gravitas as well as the promise of a new destination appearing on the horizon. Directions now in hand, The Dip is looking forward to furthering this exploration into all matters of the heart by bringing this expansive and detailed new recording to life in their next travels together.