PT Bruiser

7. Nothing Is Wrong by Dawes

Before I started writing this review, I didn’t know much about Dawes other than that I like their album and that one of their members—Taylor Goldsmith—is in Middle Brother. So I read their Wikipedia page and learned that they used to be a punk-rock band called Simon Dawes, that they were jamming with Conor Oberst before they even released an album, and that there’s a pair of brothers in the band (gotta love brother bands).

But here’s what you really need to know: Taylor Goldsmith is a devastating lyricist. I’m not saying every song on this album is sad (although let’s be real: that’s pretty much the case), but even the happy images he paints are just so emotionally rich as to be intoxicating. Take, for instance, “A Little Bit of Everything” (no really, take it—free download here), my #4 track of the year. There are three verses, three stories: an attempted suicide off the Golden Gate Bridge, a lonely old man eating at a buffet, and a conversation about love between a fiancé and his stressed-out bride-to-be. That third verse describes marriage, giving yourself to someone, in all its tiny joys and struggles:

It’s a little bit of everything: the way you choke, the way you ache. It is getting up before you so I can watch you as you wake. So on that day in late September it’s not some stupid little ring; I’m getting a little bit of everything.

That’s not unhappy or fanciful or optimistic or pessimistic: it’s a view of marriage rooted in the idea that love is an action, not a feeling. There’s hurt and heartfelt tenderness and every tiny nuance that adds up to a real-life love story.

But that’s just one verse off one song. There’s also “Million Dollar Bill,” which might be one of the saddest songs I know. There’s the dogged independence of “Coming Back to a Man” and the “sadder but wiser” determination of “The Way You Laugh.” I don’t know how bad Taylor Goldsmith’s break-ups have been, but he’s milked them dry for songwriting eloquence.

Oh, and I haven’t even said anything about the music! It’s much folkier than I’d expect from a Los Angeles band, but I’m not complaining. This is a tight album with a good variety of sounds on it. The music has been slower to grab me than I Am Very Far or Kiss Each Other Clean, but it lacks no grace as a handmaiden to the lyrics, which are truly superb.

I’m excited to keep listening to Nothing Is Wrong. I feel like I’m just now starting to appreciate it and if I were writing this list six months from now, it could easily jump even higher in the rankings.