Rock band Dawes releases second album ‘Nothing is Wrong’

The recent trend in rock music has been up-and-coming bands stripping down the genre and taking it back to its roots, as we have recently seen with the likes of Mumford and Sons and The Avett Brothers. Dawes, of Los Angeles, follows that line.

Comprised of brothers Taylor Goldsmith, lead vocalist and guitarist, and Griffin Goldsmith, guitarist, as well as Tay Strathairn, vocalist and keyboardist, and drummer Wylie Gyber, the band’s last release, "Nothing is Wrong," was June 7, 2011."

The album has a laid-back vibe and is heavily inspired in sound and subject matter by their home state of California. Dawes’ sound can be described as a polished Neil Young, but more melodic and piano-backed in comparison to Young’s screechy guitar.

The highlight of the album is undoubtedly Taylor’s gift for lyrics. The songs are based mostly about the triumphs and trials of relationships, from the highest of highs in love to the lowest of lows in heartbreak.

Other themes touch upon suicide, finding one’s self and redemption.

Taylor has a gift for metaphors and is able to slip in many things you would never associate with those themes, such as mashed potatoes ("A Little Bit of Everything"), old sailors ("So Well") and birds crashing into a clear window ("If I Wanted Someone").

In an era of shuffling on iPods and downloading single songs instead of whole CDs, "Nothing is Wrong" is best when listened to from the first track to the last.

"Time Spent in Los Angeles," the first track, as well as the first single from the CD, creates the mood of the album and invites the listener’s ear in. The last track, "A Little Bit of Everything," leads to the album’s final explosion before slowly bowing out. Its title also describes the bevy of emotions the album contains.

Taylor is able to bring the listener on an roller coaster with slower songs about heartbreak followed perfectly by faster songs of love at its best.

The track "Million Dollar Bill," with its desolate sound paired with gripping metaphors, is Taylor at his finest as a lyricist as well as a singer. "When it hits me what she’s done/ I think I’ll run for president/ Get my face put on the million dollar bill/ So when these rich men that she wants/ Show her ways they can take care of her/ I’ll have found a way to be there with her still," he groans.

Dawes is currently touring the United States, with stops in Pennsylvania and Virginia, as well as festivals like Bonnaroo, Coachella and the Newport Folk Festival.