Year In Review 2011
"Time Spent in Los Angeles" by Dawes
I only recently discovered Dawes. A friend of mine asked me if I'd heard of them, and when he said the name I initially thought he was saying "Doors" with the thickest Boston accent I'd ever heard (which is especially strange since he's a Tarheel through and through). Regardless of their name, two things initially struck me about the track as he began to play it on his car stereo: First, the band had an "old" sound - one born out of many years playing together as a group, but more than that; it was a classic sound, like what The Band or The Heartbreakers might sound like if they were a new up-and-coming group. Just a handful of close friends beating out a set of changes in a room, oblivious to the rest of the world. I could hear tinges of other influence - Dylan, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison - but at the same time they had an identity their own, one forged from years on the road and countless shows in half-filled smoky rooms to mildly uniterested locals as they waited for the opening act to leave the stage. Instantly I empathized with and respected them. They had earned this sound, not taken it. There's definitely a difference between the two.
Secondly, the simplicity of the song struck me. It was just a verse and a chorus, and only a handful of chords each. Normally I'm a sucker for complexity for complexity's sake, but the starkness of the track left me a little speechless. Here was a group of musicians that could do a lot with very little, which ultimately I found more impressive than any chord substitution or production trick. If you can strip down a song to just one instrument and the vocal - and it still stands up - then you have yourself a great song. As the chorus began, I realized this was one of those songs: "You've got that special kind of sadness/You've got that tragic set of charms/That only comes from time spent in Los Angeles". On first listen, I found the words kind of silly - until I realized that they had described to a T nearly half of my father's family, all L.A. natives. That in and of itself was no small feat, but to do it in sparking 3-part harmony? That deserves a tip of the cap...
The whole record is great, but if you only end up listening to one song, do yourself a favor: spend some time in Los Angeles.
- Bunny
Secondly, the simplicity of the song struck me. It was just a verse and a chorus, and only a handful of chords each. Normally I'm a sucker for complexity for complexity's sake, but the starkness of the track left me a little speechless. Here was a group of musicians that could do a lot with very little, which ultimately I found more impressive than any chord substitution or production trick. If you can strip down a song to just one instrument and the vocal - and it still stands up - then you have yourself a great song. As the chorus began, I realized this was one of those songs: "You've got that special kind of sadness/You've got that tragic set of charms/That only comes from time spent in Los Angeles". On first listen, I found the words kind of silly - until I realized that they had described to a T nearly half of my father's family, all L.A. natives. That in and of itself was no small feat, but to do it in sparking 3-part harmony? That deserves a tip of the cap...
The whole record is great, but if you only end up listening to one song, do yourself a favor: spend some time in Los Angeles.
- Bunny
