It's a complicated family affair, the new Dawes album. Now that Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith have to keep their attention without the support of Lee Pardini and Wylie Gelber, the going gets tough. And “Oh Brother” is harsh, rough, ambitious, the ninth album of the Californian band, conceived alone by the Goldsmith brothers and then completed with the help of Trevor Meanear and Mike Viola.
The deceptive seduction of the American dream is at the center of the nine tracks of the album, obviously filtered by personal experiences and the new structure of the band. What hasn't changed is the solid blend of country-rock, solid folk ballad and a typical determination from jam sessionswhich made the Dawes proposal peculiar.
For “Oh Brother” the brothers necessarily renounce the elaborate strategies of the past for a more biting and even sarcastic formula (“Mister Los Angeles”), the vigorous sound of guitarist Taylor Goldsmith conquers further space in the economy of the album, but they are the strategies of drummer Griffin the real surprise of these new songs.
Snare drums and brushes weave groove robust (“Enough Already”), but also refined, opening the doors to forays into blues with the mournful “Surprise” and to more complex Steely Dan-style structures in “Front Row Seat”.
Where Dawes are always at ease is in the most melancholic ballads: the six minutes and 24 seconds of “King Of The Never-Wills” are exemplary in this sense, the spare and painful notes and the bitter reflection on those who remain overwhelmed by adversity offers the two musicians the opportunity to explore new nuance country/soul. Of equal depth is the contemptuous ballad with piano and harmonica in the forefront “Hilarity Ensues” which enjoys, like the rest of the album, the more sparse dimension of the work.
The eye-catching refrain country-rock of “Still Strangers Sometime” and the effervescent groove of “The Game” add further appeal to a record inspired and strongly rooted in the American tradition. The pragmatism of “Oh Brother” is ultimately a winning formula, which restores momentum to Dawes' career.
11/16/2024
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
