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Dawes: Nothing Is Wrong

ATO

In two short years, Dawes has emerged as one of the finest bands in the burgeoning neo-folk-rock scene—the four group even scored a gig backing none other than Robbie Robertson has at some upcoming live dates. In fact, there is no act that Dawes is more closely related to than The Band. Building off 2009’s surprise debut hit North Hills, Nothing Is Wrong is a nearly perfect combination of incredible songwriting, brotherly harmonies and loose grooves that dip from Neil Young crunch to CSN grace. There’s a growing confidence and earthly honesty in these songs, but it’s the brilliant lyrical turns that make them exceptional. Simple ideas like “The only point of looking back is to see how far we’ve come” are just as powerful as fully-realized stories that unfold like “Little Bit of Everything,” in which a man is hoisting his leg over a bridge getting ready to jump. When asked why he’s doing this, he replies: “It’s the mountains/ It’s the fog/ It’s the news at six o’clock/ It’s the death of my first dog/ It’s the angels up above me/ It’s the song that they don’t sing/ It’s a little bit of everything.”