The present, with all its misery, from Corona to war and climate collapse, has created a new English word: »doomscrolling«, made up of »doom« (downfall) and »scrolling« (frantic scrolling through the smartphone screen) – it’s the essence about obsessively consuming grim news on the cell phone. But what does that have to do with the California feelgood band Dawes to do?
The quartet around the brothers Taylor Goldsmith (vocals, guitar) and Griffin Goldsmith (drums) has named their eighth studio album »Misadventures Of Doomscroller« since 2009 – and thus proves that the crises have also arrived in the most harmonious US rock music. »The mishaps of the anxious smartphone junkie« (loosely translated) are at the same time – perhaps precisely because of the fear of the future behind them – the Dawes’ bravest record.
On new paths
These musicians, who until now mostly sounded like a (highly competent) retro-folk-pop troupe somewhere between Jackson Browne, The Band and Crosby Stills & Nash, were no longer expected to perform such a feat.
You only have to hear the central piece “Ghost In The Machine” to be amazed: the band approaches funk jazz with freely shimmering guitars and a wonderfully easy-going piano solo until the song breaks the six-minute barrier.
Other of the only seven songs on the album are also long (sometimes eight or nine minutes), they take their completely appropriate time for sprawling solos and surprising breaks. And yet these aren’t frayingly narcissistic tracks, but rather well composed, melodic songs without stylistic blinders.
Produced by hot studio ace Jonathan Wilson, Misadventures Of Doomscroller represents an ambitious approach to all West Coast hippie. »We’ve always prided ourselves on being minimalists. With this record, we set out to be maximalists,” says Taylor Goldsmith. “We have decided to no longer take short attention spans into account.” Experiment successful – despite the gloomy “doomscroller” mood.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220719-99-79118/3
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