Vocalist Rachael Price and guitarist and vocalist Vilray met while they were both attending the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in 2003. Shortly after meeting, Rachael – born in Sydney, Australia on August 30, 1985 – co-founded the group Lake Street Dive and released several albums before achieving commercial success in 2014 with their fourth full-length Bad Self Portraits. While recording and performing with Lake Street Dive and releasing the occasional solo album, Rachael maintained her friendship with the Brooklyn, New York-born Vilray and the duo finally solidified their professional relationship when they began to make sporadic performances together in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, the duo released the album Rachael & Vilray to critical acclaim. During the tour to promote the album, audiences were enchanted by their jazz and pop style, which was heavily influenced by Tin Pan Alley music from the 1930s and 1940s. Rachael returned to Lake Street Dive for the albums Obviously (2021) and Fun Machine: The Sequel (2022) before connecting with Vilray again to record and release the album I Love a Love Song! (2023). While the duo’s debut featured a few cover versions, I Love a Love Song! was entirely written by Vilray. In 2025, they followed together with West of Broadway.
