Review: Dawes :: Nothing Is Wrong

Dawes are rock classicists. They're not interested in reinventing the wheel or breaking new rock & roll boundaries—at least not yet. Right now, this Los Angeles quartet is simply grinding away and honing its chops. And on their sophomore album Nothing Is Wrong, those chops are mighty sharp. The four members of Dawes clearly grew up listening to the likes of Neil Young, the Band, and the Laurel Canyon crowd, as brothers Goldsmith and company play in a bubble of 1970s rock aesthetics with purring organs, room-filling guitar solos, and grand, sweeping, everyman choruses. But this is no nostalgia act nor rock revival. Dawes are very much a contemporary band with their own distinctive sound—they're just one that happens to appreciate the subtleties of recording live to 2" analog tape.

Dawes - "If I Wanted Someone"

It seems that inbetween recording an album and touring the country with Middle Brother and playing backup for the legendary Robbie Robertson, Taylor Goldsmith and the rest of Dawes had time to work on their own record—Nothing Is Wrong, due out on June 7th. This morning we get our first taste of the album with "If I Wanted Someone," which adds a bit more rock & roll edge to the band's already potent Laurel Canyon sound. "If I wanted someone to clean me up, I'd find myself a maid / If I wanted someone to spend my money, I wouldn't even get paid," sings Goldsmith with a bit of fire on his breath. Hearing the "maid" lyric and gritty gain-filled guitar soloing, Neil Young and Crazy Horse inevitably come to mind. But what's really happening here is a band finding fresh legs and fleshing out their sound with newly added weight. Like a boxer heading to the ring, Dawes sound like they're flexing their muscles readying for a fight.

Dawes - "If I Wanted Someone" (from Nothing Is Wrong)