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Some great music hits you hard, like a hammer to the head. Then again, there are bands like Dawes that slowly get under your skin. The group's latest album, All Your Favorite Bands is yet another offering that will take a little while to grow on you. It will also sting a little bit at times, like a paper cut.

 

The reason why it will hurt – if you're truly paying attention – is because Dawes new album is a breakup album.

Its primary singer/songwriter, Taylor Goldsmith must have gone through a painfully nasty separation prior to (or, perhaps during) the making of this album because there are a lot of sad lyrical meditations on loving and losing fond within.

 

The album's title is a musical reference. In its chorus, Goldsmith wishes all his ex's favorite bands stay together. It's kind of an awkward statement; the sort you blurt out when you don't really know what else to say. Instead of talking about what may have gone wrong in the relationship, Goldsmith kind of changes the subject by saying he hopes her brother's El Camino, for instance, runs forever, before also wanting all her favorite bands to stay together. And maybe he's mentioning these two subjects (cars and bands) because these at least have a better chance of coming true. He knows full well that his relationship with her will not run forever nor stay together. He's hanging on the hope that at least some of the good things in life were built to last.

 

Even though he's not going to have this woman in his life anymore, he still holds out hope that there will be healing in his life. The song “Somewhere Along The Way” he mentions that he's suddenly learned to smile again. It's like any grieving, actually. Anyone who's ever lost a loved one knows this feeling. At the time of that person's death, you may have said – even out loud – that you cannot picture yourself either laughing or smiling ever again. After all, with all the pain that comes with that sense of loss, how can happiness even be a remote possibility? But then someone makes you chuckle, or you see or hear something beautiful and it makes you grin. And all of a sudden you realize that death is not the end – at least not for you. Goldsmith has had this realization, and he's made it with a song. Yes, you might say that a breakup is not nearly as bad as having a loved one dying. You, of course, have never had a broken heart. It's really the same set of emotions. Here this person you thought would always be there for you is taken away or chooses to walk away. You seemingly have no recourse. And so the grieving begins.

 

Dawes is really a strange name for a band. It doesn't really tell you anything about it. At least Chicago and Alabama told you where the musicians were from. It's so almost generic. But don't let this deter you from letting the act's music get inside of you. Once you give it a chance to work its slow magic, you'll start to move in the SoCal act's subtle rhythms. Somewhere along the way, Dawes will get to you – if you give Goldsmith and his songs to take root. If you've loved and loss, your connection will be much quicker, if not immediate. But it will happen, if you let it.

 

Let's hope Dawes is one of the bands that always stays together. May they be like The Rolling Stones, were only death will do them part.