Album Review: Dawes - Stories Don't End

The high and instantly recognisable voice of Taylor Goldsmith kicks off LA Americana/classic rock exponents Dawes' third album, Stories Don't End, opening track, Just Beneath The Surface, offering a now-familiar display of self-reflective relationship analysis (“When you talk about me/Do you stick to the memories?”), the singer-songwriter still trying to make sense of the myriad travails incumbent in messy affairs of the heart.

The album itself is an endless highway of AOR-tinted tones – the top is down and the sky is blue – the only slight distractions from the unrelentingly smooth journey coming in the form of the occasional mildly-indulgent fretwork and the complex, close harmonies liberally littering the surrounds. Goldsmith is one of those writers adept at ringing meaning from minutiae in the rich realm of relationships (Someone Will, Something In Common, From The Right Angle), although he channels that empathy differently at times. In Most People, he uses the perspective of an ostracised female, while in Bear Witness that of both a frail, aging man and a lovelorn dog.

The songwriting is uniformly strong and the pristine production from Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Norah Jones) is crisp and adds to the allure; however it all just feels a bit safe and misses the melancholy of their 2009 debut, North Hills. Nonetheless, if you grew up getting down to your parents' Jackson Browne or LRB records you'll find a lot to love here – the '70s Laurel Canyon vibe given a modern sheen.