Dawes - North Hills. Indie.2009.mp3.320.txt

Dawes - North Hills. Indie.2009.mp3.320. Converted from Original FLAC

Tracklist:

01. That Western Skyline (5:59)
02. Love Is All I Am (5:17)
03. When You Call My Name (4:45)
04. Give Me Time (3:18)
05. When My Time Comes (5:08)
06. God Rest My Soul (4:59)
07. Bedside Manner (4:12)
08. My Girl To Me (4:51)
09. Take Me Out Of The City (5:12)
10. If You Let Me Be Your Anchor (4:25)
11. Peace In The Valley (6:56)
*************************************************************************************************
Dawes is an American rock band comprising brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, Wylie Gelber, and Tay Strathairn, hailing from Los Angeles, California. Dawes was formed from the band Simon Dawes when co-songwriter Blake Mills left, abandoning their post-punk sound in favor of folk rock.

Dawes is part of the Laurel Canyon sound, whose influences include Crosby, Stills, and Nash and Neil Young, among others, centered in the North Hills area of Los Angeles. At the invitation of producer Jonathan Wilson, the band joined an informal jam session in the area that included Conor Oberst, The Black Crowes's Chris Robinson, and Benmont Tench. The band recorded their debut album, North Hills, in Laurel Canyon in a live setting to analog tape, resulting in a sound that Rolling Stone magazine called "authentically vintage". Wilco multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone is also credited with appearing on the release.

The band made their television debut on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 14 2010. The band's song "When My Time Comes" played during the final scenes and closing credits of the season two finale of Hung.

On October 26th, 2010, lead singer Taylor Goldsmith told the crowd at a show in Saint Louis, Missouri, that the band took off the month of September to record a new album which will most likely be released in May of 2011.

In an interview with the UCLA Daily Bruin, lead singer Taylor Goldsmith said their new album will most likely be released in June of 2011. In a February 21, 2011 comment left on the same interview, Lenny Goldsmith confirmed that "Alex Casnoff left the band a few months ago. Tay Straithairn was before, and is NOW the keyboard player."

Dawes performed with Robbie Robertson on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman and ABC's The View in support of his new album, How to Become Clairvoyant, featuring Taylor Goldsmith on background vocals.

"When My Time Comes" was featured in a national advertising campaign by Chevy.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_%28band%29











Review from PopMatters:

Dawes: North Hills

By Cody Miller 29 January 2010

The only trend more popular right now than growing a beard and making music reminiscent of early CSNY is making cinema or television shows with overtly sexual vampires and detailing their interspecies relationships with humans. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), the melodramatic and over-the-top vampire story arc is absent from the rootsy rockers Dawes’ debut album, North Hills.

Stylistically, the band’s music falls somewhere between the California dreaming sound of She & Him and the bearded folk pop of Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, and the recently revived Black Crowes. Lovely harmonies, subtle key changes, and lush arrangements of acoustic guitars, pedal steels, and light drums keep the album sounding like the status quo of StereoGum and Pitchfork. And while that may give the band a certain type of hype—the kind that allowed Fleet Foxes last release to skyrocket to the top of several best-of lists—it also gives the band a serious question to answer: What do you have to offer that the other bearded guys don’t?

There’s a pleasant Gram Parsons vibe throughout the album, but that’s a sound Connor Oberst mastered on his eponymous album with more scope. The subtle gospel tinges and sophisticated harmonies of “That Western Skyline†and “Give Me Time†may be splendid, but Monsters of Folk already beat the band to the punch, and the supergroup had a significantly stronger swing. Ryan Adams has already written “When You Call My Name†at least three times, and managed to make his versions a bit interesting by throwing in a few surprising couplets, a talent Dawes lacks.

The lovely, but ultimately of-the-moment production may draw attention to the band, but the biggest problem remains the songwriting. Simple, cliché images are a stock in trade of the group and titles like “Give Me Time†and “If You Let Me Be Your Anchor†practically give themselves away. Images of the city, older men, and entwined hands dot most of the album, and when the band tries to incorporate some more verbose language, the results come off as saccharine or heavy-handed, like on “Love Is All I Am†and God Rest My Soulâ€. It’s as if the members of the band picked up “Writing Folks Songs 101†and applied every chapter to a song. It would also behoove the band to start editing their material, as five songs clock in over five minutes, and the closing “Peace In the Valley†almost makes the seven-minute mark.

What Dawes may lack in unique sonic textures or superb musicianship, frontman Taylor Goldsmith makes up for with his capable pipes. He has the mountain wail down, and even if he lacks the more seasoned nuance of someone like John Cowan, he does his best to bring a certain wide-eyed spirit to the songs. And it’s the youthful songs that Goldsmith excels at. He sounds out of place trying to tell a time narrative like “God Rest My Soul†but cuts into “When My Time Comes†with gusto and energy, and leads the harmony section with real command on “That Western Skyline†in a way that favorably recalls Neil Young.

It would be easy to look at North Hills as a last-ditch effort to hop on a bandwagon, and at times, the band give plenty of proof for that read. However, the band do have talent, if it its talent is sometimes being too obvious in its attempt to fit into a certain mold. If the band can find a way to channel their lovely harmonies and roots heavy sound into a way that gives them more character, they could shoot for a type of stylistic renaissance the Avett Brothers achieved earlier this year. Or perhaps the band could plug in and find a way to match their vocal layering with something more kinetic; either way, expect North Hills to end up on at least three best-of ’09 lists. But you can’t really blame the band, just like you can’t blame the CW for pushing “The Vampire Diaries†onto viewers. Well, okay, maybe you can get a little furious over the latter.
 
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/116430-dawes-north-hills