People often say “you can’t choose your family,” but a special case lies in musical group Lake Street Dive, who chose each other 14 years ago to start something bigger than a band.

“We’re really, at this point, a family,” said Bridget Kearney, the standing bassist of Lake Street Dive. “We love each other unconditionally, no matter what moment we’re each at in our lives. This a constant. This is something we are in together.”

Kearny points out that after being together for over a decade, the band has experienced heartbreak, divorce, engagements, weddings, kids and, most recently, the addition of keyboardist Akie Bermiss.

The majority of Lake Street Dive, which includes Mike Calabrese, Bridget Kearney, Rachael Price and Mike Olson, met during Kearney’s freshman year at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Bermiss joined them in 2017, but was quickly accepted into the family, according to Kearny.

“[Bermiss is] maybe everyone’s favorite person on the tour,” said Kearney. “He was originally just going to join us for one tour, but we ended up loving what he brought – an unexpected, but perfect fit.”

It was a moment for the band, Kearney said, where they sat down and asked for change. Another moment like that came when creating their most recent album. “Free Yourself Up,” which released May 4, 2018, includes songs with references to the current political climate, straying from the romantic ideals that usually influence their songs.

The decision to write about politics is one that formed organically, said Kearney. While “Free Yourself Up” still includes themes of romantic woes and joys, the shift comes from what felt authentic to the band as a whole.

“When you’re sitting down to write a song, the most genuine things are things that you have a lot of feelings about,” Kearney said. “In the past couple of years, that’s also included what’s going on in the world and politics. It hit us in a much more personal and emotional way.”

Listeners might not immediately recognize the political messages that lie underneath the upbeat tempos of Lake Street Dive’s songs. “Shame, Shame, Shame,” one of the most popular songs on the new album, comes from frustration and anger with the state of the world’s politics, said Kearny. However, the final verses relay hope and an inspirational push toward believing listeners can make a change.

“We are pretty conscious about trying to maintain some kind of message about hope and positivity, embracing the inevitable evolution,” Kearney said. “That’s one of the things I love about music. It’s a gateway into somebody’s humanity.”

Being able to take influence from other artists is another important tool Lake Street Dive uses when creating. The band purposefully tries not to be too obvious in their music about who the influences come from, Kearny said, because they don’t want an immediate comparison to that artist.

Most recently, Kearney has worked with the band Vulpeck, a funk group since 2011, whose shows have made her even more excited and inspired to keep creating music.

“Being a consumer of music is so valuable in being a creator of music,” Kearney said. “It’s like fuel – like I need to keep consuming music in order to be inspired and be creating.”

It’s more than fitting into a specific niche or genre for Lake Street Dive; it’s about what a person feels when they hear their music. Kearney said she doesn’t like her music to be too vague – it should make people move while also giving them something to think about.

“We always want our music to be hitting both the heart and the head,” Kearney said.

Even though being a “genreless” band created problems for the first four to eight years while Lake Street Dive was attempting to get on the map, it’s now provided many more opportunities for the band. By not making any sacrifices to fit into a box, the fluidity of Lake Street Dive’s music has kept them free for their entire careers.

“We can always continue to experiment, continue to grow and evolve, and no one can say, ‘Oh, you’re just a bluegrass band,’” Kearney said.

The freedom has been a key factor in Lake Street Dive being able to stay together for this many years, along with their ability to make music about genuine feelings. The first years of working together were successful because everyone was passionate about what the songs were about, Kearny said, because “it couldn’t have possibly been about the money.”

“The fact that we loved the music we’re making got us through the hard times and the good times,” Kearny said. “The music has always been the priority and will always stay the priority.”