Californian folk-rock band Dawes formed following the exit of Blake Mills from Simon Dawes and released their debut album, North Hills, in 2009. That album, and it’s follow-up, Nothing Is Wrong, were both produced by Jonathon Wilson, who returns for the band’s sixth album, Passwords, out today.
Passwords follows the album that most shook up the band’s sound in 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die, and it blends Dawes’ typical sound with some of what we heard in 2016 and some harder ’70s rock sounds. “Living in the Future” and “Crack the Case” were paired together and released with the announcement of the album, with “Never Gonna Say Goodbye” and “Telescope” coming together just a few weeks ago.
The album, particularly “Living in the Future,” “Crack the Case,” and “Feed the Fire” are about modern technology and our lives within it, though lead singer/songwriter Taylor Goldsmith told the New York Times in an interview publishes today: “I actually like social media, and I recognize what modern technology serves. I’m just saying, ‘Let’s have more of a conversation about it.’” It’s that conversation that is certainly evident in one of the album’s centerpiece songs, “Crack the Case.”
Other albums in stores today that we’re listening to:
The Record Company – All of This Life
Panic! at the Disco – Pray For the Wicked
This Wild Life – Petaluma
Jack River – Sugar Mountain
Jeffrey Foucault – Blood Brothers
Header image courtesy of DawesTheBand.com.