What you’re about to read (or quickly be deterred by in favor of something more entertaining) is what I hope to turn into something of a regular feature around here. I call it “Reflections on Record,” and I plan to use it as a forum to shed a personal light on new (or perhaps a few old) albums, records, singles, songs or whatever way people choose to slice the music-release pie these days. I say “Reflections…” because I don’t plan to necessarily critique these albums or give them a 3.5 star rating by the end. I like them already, or I wouldn’t bother writing about them.
This lucky duck of a record enjoys the particular honor of being the first in the series. The band is Dawes, a four-piece group from California by which I’ve been completely struck since first serendipitously hearing the band play on a friend’s iPod. The album was North Hills, the band’s only at the time. I was immediately drawn to the authenticity of the music, to the tales of heartache so soulfully delivered by lead singer Taylor Goldsmith, and to the image of a setting country sun I so often associate with the music of Jackson Browne (who goes so far as to make a cameo), Neil Young, or The Band.
Nothing Is Wrong, released earlier this month, picks up right where I’d hoped it would. The instrumentation leaves no room for frills: electric guitar, piano, bass, and drums are highlighted by sprinkles of organ, acoustic guitar, and a chorus of CSN harmonies to supplement Goldsmith’s commanding vocal, which for good reason is usually the centerpiece of each number.
I was lucky enough to catch the band twice in Chicago on what I assume were two consecutive national tours (or perhaps one big one with a couple laps). The first was as an opener at the Double Door in which the group’s familiar older songs were very well-received. The second was a headlining slot at Lincoln Hall several months later, in which the band had really begun showcasing many of the tunes that would make up this album, and there was little doubt that people had begun taking notice.
Tracks “So Well” and “A Little Bit of Everything” ring just as emotionally true on tape as they did in those Chicago venues. I’d already fallen for the sparse tale of love lost in “Million Dollar Bill” after Goldsmith’s side project Middle Brother released it earlier this year.
It’s not often I have a favorite moment on an album with so many highlights, but the soaring coda to “Fire Away” may be it. It also doesn’t hurt that the brilliant chorus of interlaced vocals is supplemented by the aforementioned Jackson Browne, the king of that dreamy, introspective, Southern California sound in my mind, nor the fact that Browne himself could have written it. Many of the reasons for which I enjoy Dawes’ music are the same as those that make Browne one of my all-time favorites, a list Dawes is no doubt working their way up.
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Dawes, Nothing Is Wrong. (2011)
