Stay Positive

Vinyl LP pressing. The Hold Steady's fourth album Stay Positive (2008) served as an excellent progression for the best bar band in indie rock and featured a much more adventurous sound to which the group credits producer John Agnello who also helmed their 2006 breakthrough release, Boys And Girls In America. The album sees the band include more diverse instrumentation alongside their bar-room rock, including mandolin, harpsichord, strings and horns. SingerCraig Finn defined Stay Positive as an album, musically and lyrically, about the attempt to age gracefully. The band's gift for literate, anthemic songwriting finds a new focus Finn calls more musical, more dynamic, different instrumentation, more complex arrangements and not always hiding behind raw volume.