Dany Laj is a bit of a nomad. On his last full length record, 2021’s “Ten Easy Pieces”, he had the line “6 towns in 6 years, I kinda like this one”. And yet, still he moves away shortly after that record comes out. While he does move place to place quite a bit he always settles somewhere in his native Canada (Montreal currently). Sonically he has similar tendencies, not staying in a particular lane but still keeping on the wide road of his overall melodic power pop sound. He’ll swerve into some classic rock, punk, R&B and folk but still stay on course. On his latest single from I-94 Recordings he incorporates some ‘60s girl group and doo wop sounds while still remaining true to the Dany Laj & the Looks backbone. When you hear it, “You Should Know” it’s Dany Laj. Catchiness is his forte. The melodies hook you in!
Dany has found his partner in musical crime, with Jeanette Dowling plucking the bass and singing along sweetly with him. This time around the core (Dany & Jeanette) are augmented by additional Looks Anna Mernieks-Duffield on guitar and vocals and Mike Mernieks-Duffield on drums. The two couple dynamic is an interesting one. (Abba or Fleetwood Mac, anyone?). They meld together quite nicely.
This is the #7 single in I-94 Recordings Detroit cover “B” side series.
Dany decided to stretch the parameters a bit on the “Detroit” cover. He chose to do “I’m So Glad”, originally released by Skip James (who is not from Detroit) in 1931. How we get the Detroit connection is The Scot Richard Case (later shortened to SRC), had a regional hit with it in their hometown of Detroit in 1967. The Looks version is more akin to this one..
Always the road dog, Dany plans to be back out there with his Looks in 2023. Traversing across Canada, the U.S. and abroad. Come out and say hello.
The record comes in multiple variants (both the vinyl and the sleeves):
classic black vinyl (sleeve variant #1)
Retro Mod Pop Wax Mage vinyl (sleeve variant #2)
Multiple color options vinyl (sleeve variants #3 and #4)
Side A: You Should Know
Side B: I’m So Glad (Scot Richard Case via Skip James)