Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers - Pursuit of Wonder (2023)

Midway through Pursuit of Wonder, the fifth album from funk-pop band Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers, the band meets the ‘Angel of Death.’ Preoccupied and casually dressed, he's hitching a ride because he's got places to go, things to do. And somehow, this band are the ones that are going to get him there.

"The album is a celebration of the shared, often private melancholy we feel. Everyone suffers to some degree," says frontman and chief songwriter Joe Hertler. "One of the big themes on this record is looking at opposites: life or death, good or bad, happiness or sadness. None of those things can exist without the other." Imagine dancing at the apocalypse, at a rave commandeered by the Rainbow Seekers — and you have a good idea about what they have accomplished with the pensive-but-uplifting Pursuit of Wonder.

A dip into darkness is an unexpected turn for The Rainbow Seekers, who are practically synonymous with joyous, life-affirming live shows, earning loyal, grassroots followings thanks to gigs at major festivals and opening for jam bands. But we are living in unprecedented times (as the newspapers relentlessly reminds us each day), and that has really gotten Hertler thinking about how we might want to live more dangerously — by which he means, out of our comfort zones.