Velour

Lettuce specializes in a horn-heavy, swaggering sort of funk, one best matched with cutting a rug or strutting down the street. But on Fly, the fourth album from the 20-year-old septet, we’re treated to a few mellow moments, too – ones better suited for bouncing ideas than bouncing around the room. “Bowler,” especially, makes you move and marvel. Composed by keyboardist Neal Evans – in tribute, perhaps, to the bowler hats he often wears onstage – “Bowler” begins with a few seconds of dark, spaghettiwestern guitar before storming into ominous dub reggae horn lines over a Meters-y soul-jazz riff. Later sections involve Stax-ish country guitar and a feel-good horn idea that screams Cannonball Adderley. The title track opens on a spiritual plane, with fluttering flute, ethereal guitar and simmering cymbals over a B-natural pedal point. Adam Deitch’s bruising, sluggish-on-purpose drumming and a hazy, bluesy wah-wah guitar solo fuel the hypnotic slow jam “The Crusher.”