Love Direction [CD]

The DIP is a Seattle-based Rhythm and Blues band that is known for it's 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. 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. 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.