The indie-folk artist credits the work of his producer and studio musicians for enhancing his milestone new recording. View the rest of the chart at Local Spins and listen to tracks from all the releases.
‘Nice to Get Some Love’: Kyle Rasche and Chain of Lakes at his album-release show in May. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
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When it comes to the robust reception for his latest studio album, West Michigan’s Kyle Rasche gives much of the credit to engineer and producer Josh Kaufman at Grand Rapids’ Local Legend Recording.
“I’m a songwriter, not a record producer,” said Rasche, who recently released “The Catch Album” under the indie-folk Chain of Lakes moniker that he’s maintained since 2010.
“Josh is a brilliant producer that just opened a world-class studio right here in Grand Rapids. We both wanted a chance to prove ourselves in our respective lanes, so I gave him a pile of my songs to choose from and he chopped the list down to a cohesive track list and took the lead producing the album.”
The result? Chain of Lakes’ 11-track “true collaboration” project shot to the top of the Local Spins Hot Top 5 Chart for July, representing the local or regional album that racked up the most airplay on Grand Rapids community radio station WYCE (88.1 FM).
“It’s tough to gauge how new music is being received these days,” conceded Rasche, “so it feels nice to get some love from my hometown station.”
The in-demand singer — who also spearheads “The Song Haul” songwriting group — praised the contributions of musicians who enhanced his insightful tracks in the studio, including David Vandervelde, Sav Buist and Katie Larson of The Accidentals, Theo Ndawillie II and David Beeman.
“The incredible musicians all served my songs better than I ever could have imagined by myself,” he said, adding that he plans to release a follow-up project, “Songs That Didn’t Make the Record,” in the fall along with some children’s songs.
In the meantime, he’ll play the Harrisville Harbor Nights series in Harrisville on Aug. 12, Wheatland Music Festival in September and The Stray Café in Grand Rapids on Oct. 1.
Chain of Lakes leap-frogged the albums that ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on the June Hot Top 5 – Brie Stoner’s “Singles EP” and PHABIES’s “Fire Seed” – with northern Michigan singer-songwriter May Erlewine’s “Tiny Beautiful Things” re-entering the chart at No. 4 and Detroit soul singer Laura Rain & The Caesars’ “Rise Again” rounding things out at No. 5.
Listen to tracks from all of the releases below and view previous Hot Top Charts online here.
THE LOCAL SPINS HOT TOP 5 ON SPOTIFY: July 2022
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