The Dirk Kroll Band takes an aerial view of life from different perspectives on Your Flight.

The Pontiac, Michigan blues-rock quintet provides a panoramic picture of compelling characters—ranging from seaside lovers to Elvis zealots to weary commuters—from the past and present on their latest album.

“The album is new stuff and old stuff that’s from years ago. I kinda had my doubts about redoing [some of] it because it was going to lose its integrity and excitement,” said Dirk Kroll, the band’s lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, about writing and recording Your Flight.

“But they weren’t radio ready, recorded properly, mastered or anything. I’ve got five new ones and five [older] songs redone better than they ever were.”

Those 10 refreshed tracks soar on an album filled with imaginative tales, spirited blues-rock instrumentation, bold saxophone solos and lush harmonies.

Your Flight’s carefully crafted elements also seamlessly come together due to the solid musicianship of Kroll’s bandmates, including wife Marci Feldman (vocals), George Canterbury (keys), Ray Goodman (lead guitar) and Paul Price (drums).

“They can feel it and know it; they’ve got the vocabulary,” Kroll said. “It’s a trust factor we all have … and everybody knows their role.”

Southside Seaside to Your Flight

One of those pivotal roles includes shaping Your Flight’s nostalgic opener, “Southside Seaside,” which revisits a past fling and the desire to rekindle it.

Alongside sentimental electric guitar, bass and organ, Kroll sings, “Yes, I’m traveling / I’m traveling around this world / And I’m still looking / For that perfect girl / When I see her / She’s walking back to me / I know I’m going to be what I need to be.”

“This guy was on vacation, but he had a torrid romance that lasted about a week. They didn’t know that they would have more than just that physical exposure,” Kroll said.

“They were in love, and it was supposed to continue, but life got away from them both. It’s just a lost love supposed. It was believable in the sense that it wasn’t trite or fake—they were real people. It haunted this guy and it was in Atlantic City.”

Next, Kroll trades the past for the present on “Angry Girl,” an endearing ode to Feldman and her late-night discussions about everyday troubles and challenges.

Backed by contemplative electric guitar, Kroll sings, “Sometimes when the world rushes in / She doesn’t always know just where to begin / ‘Cause when she looks into the sun / It doesn’t always shine the same for everyone / And all she knows is what she feels / The night’s on fire and it’s anything but real.”

“I was up doing the chorus in a bar one time, and I was singing, ‘She’s such an angry girl.’ Later, she said, ‘You know, it’s about me,’” said Kroll, who’s been married to Feldman for 20 years.

“I explained that she wasn’t angry, but she’s on her bully pulpit some nights. She’s a hard-working nurse, and she comes in, and you hear about it. Her head’s going to explode, and I want to sleep.”

Feldman echoed Kroll’s sentiment: “I talk to about 130 patients a day … but I’m never sitting quietly thinking my own thoughts. By the end of the day, you get home, and you’re doing all your things. I’m [finally] able to think my own thoughts without any input from other people with their problems. But by that time, he’s ready to go to sleep.”

After listening to late-night venting sessions on “Angry Girl,” Kroll shifts to a struggle between another husband and wife about Elvis Presley on “Black Velvet Elvis.”

Defiant electric guitar, bass and saxophone reflect a husband’s frustration with his wife’s unhealthy obsession with Presley and her favorite black-velvet painting of The King.

Kroll sings, “I’m taking Elvis off the wall / I know you think you saw him / Way up in Kalamazoo / Just what did he look like? / And what kind of fool are you?”

“I made up this fantasy—I had heard about this guy in Florida in a trailer park, and his wife had seen Elvis,” said Kroll, who owns a black-velvet painting of Presley that inspired the song.

“People wouldn’t leave him alone because it was like a QAnon thing before QAnon. While QAnon’s harmful, this was good-natured, but he was sick of it.”

In addition to honoring the spirit and legacy of The King on “Black Velvet Elvis,” Kroll also explores the mortality of a mythical creature on “Early Dawn.”

Stealthy electric guitar, trumpet and sax propel a flying vampire eager to see a sunrise. Kroll sings, “It’s so still and so quiet / And I’m overdrawn / A hovering shadow / And then I’m gone.”

“It was from a farce with very dark humor … and this vampire is so esoteric in life that he’s hardly real. He’s around people, and he’s experienced all that he can experience,” said Kroll, who wrote the song after reading a novella about a vampire.

“He just wants to see the dawn of the last part of it as he kills himself .. and he finally sees it, and the screen goes black. He experienced real love and real feelings and loved people who were no longer around.”

Finally, Kroll searches for a connection with others and a place to call home on the thoughtful title track. Cruising electric guitar, bass and drums accompany Kroll on his journey home as he sings, “Over the lines, don’t miss your turn / Every homecoming goes ‘round the world / Everybody wants the same thing / To be a part of, a part of what home brings.”

“It’s metaphorical in the sense that you’re going someplace that you feel at home. It’s a transient song, and it’s everybody’s flight to get there,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘What’s everybody’s flight? What do you attain? What are you after? What do you call home?’”

Feldman added: “Home is everyone’s interpretation, and it’s your comfortable place. It’s a place where you feel the most at peace. Sometimes people don’t want to go home because there’s no peace. It’s situational … and it’s a process.”

Your Flight’s Final Destination

As part of Your Flight’s creative process, Kroll revisited five older tracks for the album, including “Early Dawn,” “For a Little While” and “I Only Fall in Love,” which date back to the ‘90s.

“These songs were never finished properly,” said Kroll, who’s inspired by Motown and the British Invasion. “I’m very happy with how they turned out … and sometimes you can go back.”

On the flip side, Kroll penned some newer tracks—“Trouble,” “Angry Girl” and “Your Flight”— recently after embarking on a writing spree.

“I wrote five or six songs, and it was so immediate,” Kroll said. “I guarded my epiphany, and I just flew with the stuff. [Feldman] has seen the soup mix itself in the pot, and she tries to be helpful.”

With the album’s tracks ready to go, Kroll, Feldman and their bandmates spent three to six months recording the album at Grand Blanc’s Rooftop Recording with studio owner/multi-instrumentalist/co-producer David Roof.

“Dave’s got a plethora of ideas, and he has his fingerprints all over this stuff,” Kroll said. “He’s trusted my product enough to want to exhibit what I’m going to bring to him. We’ve gone back and reinvented a song that we both felt was not like what we intended it to be.”

Kroll also brought Your Flight’s songs to life in the studio with his bandmates and several collaborators, including saxophonists Sam Adragna, Johnnie Evans and Lily Roof, saxophonist/flutist Robert Reeves and pedal steel guitarist Justin Wierenga.

“People watch this process enough, and they’re very patient,” Kroll said. “They’re also going to come in, leave again and come back again … and then later on everybody is getting the fabric and what I’ve intended and that. I’ve got a very happy band.”

Kroll, Feldman and their bandmates also will share those tracks live during a Nov. 10 album release show at Pontiac’s Little Art Theatre.

They’ll be joined by Roof, Adragna, Evans and bassist David Uricek at the show, which will feature the band performing new tracks and old favorites.

“We’ll be doing every song on the album, but they will be mixed in with songs from the past,” Kroll said. “We’ve got 21 songs, and people have other favorite songs that aren’t on this album.”

After the album release show, Kroll, Feldman and the band will perform Dec. 1 at Royal Oak’s Edo Ramen House, Dec. 29 at Royal Oak’s Bowlero Lanes & Lounge and Jan. 20 at Livonia’s Trinity House Theatre.

“During the year, we play at least once a month and do about 20 shows,” Kroll said. “It’s a lot of shows.”

Show details:

The Dirk Kroll Band Album Release Show

Friday, Nov. 10 | 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Pontiac’s Little Art Theatre, 47 N. Saginaw St. in Pontiac

Tickets: $20