Dawes Dives Deep into American Psyche with “All Your Favorite Bands”

Dawes records sometimes take some breaking-in. 2013’s Stories Don’t End found them exploring a smooth 1970s rock sound that took a bit of getting used to, and once it grew on you, you couldn’t imagine life without it. Their latest, All Your Favorite Bands finds Taylor Goldsmith and his band diving into what seems to be their most deeply American record yet, but also their darkest. Always an Americana folk-rock band with West Coast ease, Dawes is more in touch with that aesthetic than ever before. But even with that laid-back vibe, Bands ultimately feels like a breakup album told through timeless themes of unrequited love, the inability to move on, looking back in anguish, never reaching full potential, and unfulfilled dreams.

Bands hits its stride right of the bat and hardly strays from that pace through the very last song. Meandering guitar solos and an almost too bummed out Goldsmith create a feeling of something lacking from this album. There’s an ingredient missing that we’ve come to expect and look forward to with Dawes; a colorful excitement that’s always been there in songs like “Hey Lover”, “A Little Bit of Everything”, “Fire Away” and “From the Right Angle”, just to name a few. And it’s not clear if it’s missing because Bands needs some getting used to, or if it’s because Goldsmith is genuinely heartbroken and defeated.

The only time that youthful spirit makes its way onto Bands is on the title track, the album’s standout.  But even amidst hopeful and poignant lyrics like “I hope that life without a chaperone is what you thought it’d be/I hope your brother’s El Camino runs forever/I hope the world sees the same person that you always were to me/May all your favorite bands stay together,” Goldsmith sounds a little sad and deflated. His voice is still as strong as ever, but there’s less life in it. Still, his songwriting is stunning, as he deftly captures that feeling of holding onto something because you’re afraid it’ll disappear forever if you let it go. He’s nostalgic for something that’s been gone for a long time.

Nostalgia is a constant thread woven through Bands, and it comes back to that inherently American idea of memory preservation. “Right on Time” is perhaps the most specific to this theme. “If these walls could talk/I’d defer to the furniture/The piano, the table, the bed that we both sleep in/These constant silent messengers/’Cause there’s a story that’s recorded in each fingerprint/There, these disregarded artifacts collect/If we boiled down these documented memories/I have a feeling you should know what to expect,” sings Goldsmith with more gusto than anywhere else on Bands. This is a heavy one, telling the story of the demise of a relationship so consuming it lives in everything. And there’s that American idea that our things absorb our memories. We are obsessed with preserving them, even when it holds us back.

The haunting loss of the American dream is also something to be nostalgic for, and Goldsmith captures it in all its tragic glory on “Somewhere Along the Way”, one of Bands’ liveliest and best. In it he sings:

She was certain she could take this town by storm
The wonder of sound and light seeking a form
But somewhere along the way
The dots didn’t all connect
The promise became regrets
Somewhere along the way
The dream and the circumstance continued their tortured dance.

Oof.

The mystery of this song, and of the album as a whole, is we’re never totally sure how personal any of it is. Goldsmith sings with a kind of aloof detachment in some places, and it’s hard to tell if these are all his own memories and he’s wallowing, or if he’s just collected stories throughout his life and woven them into wistful songs.

Nostalgia is in more than just the lyrics here. Dawes has always had a subtle referential aesthetic when it comes to their instrumental arrangements, and that’s all over the vintage-y (almost Clapton-esque) guitar melodies, Jackson Browne smooth, pop-rock sadness, and Paul Simon chillness of songs like “To Be Completely Honest” and “Waiting for Your Call”.

The latter is heart wrenching, and one of the most exposed and raw songs on Bands. “When your restlessness has lost its way/And you’re finished with your need to stray/It’s not even something I am proud to say/I’ll be waiting for your call/When you reach the other side of this life you live/And you ask yourself what good you did/When you wanna know just how much I can forgive/I’ll be waiting for your call,” sings Goldsmith. He’s selling out in the name of love, and again, obsession for something that he should have released long ago.

Although it gets droopy and heavy, Bands is another strong case for why Dawes is an extraordinary band, and pun intended, one of our favorites. They’re consistently pushing themselves into new territory, but also maintaining their integrity and signature sound. Bands may take a few listens to seep in, but once it does, it will stick with you.