Listen to the opening track from it below.
In news of possibly the best album title of the year so far, LA’s Dawes have announced details of their new album ‘Misadventures of Doomscroller’ which lands on July 22nd courtesy of Rounder. Their 8th studio album is described as representing “an adventurous new turn for the band, evincing a more ambitious, exploratory approach towards recording than ever before. Produced by longtime collaborator Jonathan Wilson (Billy Strings, Father John Misty, Angel Olsen), the band shook their normal approach to record making and what you hear is the result.”
Taylor Goldsmith, the band’s songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist describes the new album in this way: “We’ve always prided ourselves on being minimalists. With this record we set out on being MAXIMALISTS. Still a quartet. Still not letting these songs hide behind any tricks or effects. But really letting the songs breathe and stretch and live however they want to. We decided to stop having any regard for short attention spans. Our ambitions go beyond the musical with this one. Every time a take was completed felt like a major accomplishment. We wanted to honor the traditional length of a vinyl record – 40-45 minutes – but disregard any concern for numbers of tracks. The way Miles or Herbie often did. Documenting the songs is only half of the picture. For this record they’re also the platform for us to jump off from and get lost in. This whole album felt a little beyond our comfort zone and I’m really proud of what that’s done to the music. I think the best way I can say it is – we wanted this record to be less a collection of songs and more a collection of music.”
The first track to be taken from it is something of a double-barrelled epic: “The first half of this song could be about tyrants,” says Goldsmith. “But it could also be about anyone who thinks that a little more control is gonna make everything OK. The second half is a response to that developing reality of the first half. The world might be a scary place sometimes but, to some degree, I want to believe I can decide how I respond to it.
“Every time a take was completed felt like a major accomplishment. It being 10 minutes really raised the stakes. Didn’t wanna be the guy to mess up in minute 7 or 8 with everyone playing flawlessly up to that point. This whole album, and this song especially, felt a little beyond our comfort zone and I’m really proud of what that’s done to the music. I like to think that you can hear the eye contact, that you can hear us thinking on our feet. It’s already become a top 5er to play live. Happy to finally have it out in the world.”
‘Misadventures of Doomscroller’ marks Dawes’ first new album following 2020’s Rounder Records debut, ‘Good Luck with Whatever‘. Produced by Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit) at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, the album earned critical applause around the world including of course AUK.
Dawes is: T.Z. Goldsmith (guitar, primary vocal), W.Q. Gelber (handmade bass), G.W. Goldsmith (drums, percussion, background vocals), and L.M. Pardini (piano, organ, synthesizers, clavinet, Wurlitzer, guitar, background vocals)
