Taking It Easy

The expectant veil of prospect that looms above the heads of Dawes must be a weighty one. They hail from the North Hills of Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles, a place rooted in musical heritage. It’s been a fortress of demise and uprising for singer-songwriters since the late 60s, and more recently, Jonathan Wilson, the mystically nostalgic troubadour who bought us ‘Gentle Spirit’ on the Bella Union label, has triumphed as the best thing to sprawl from the Canyon since, well, the last best thing.

For Dawes, however, it’s not been a such an easy rise from the eucalyptus shrubs that coat the Canyon’s dusty paths. After the departure of co-songwriter, Blake Mills, back when the band was called Simon Dawes, brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith went it alone with Wylie Gelber and Tay Strathairn and substituted the previous post-punk rabble in favour for a dabble in sun-drenched folk.

And what better place to catalyse an adulation in folk-rock than the woodland isolation of this Hill dwelling arcadia?

Now on their second album, ‘Nothing Is Wrong’, Dawes have edged into the territory of their forefathers. ‘If I Wanted Someone’ blends the ambience of Treetop Flyers and The Mountains and The Trees with Glenn Fry lyricism, humbly paired with the emptiness of the country music that influenced the early ramblers. ‘Maybe ‘cause I come from such an empty hearted town’ Taylor questions before declaring, ‘I want you to make the days move easy’ in typical Jackson Browne fashion.

Dawes - If I Wanted Someone by therecordcrate