With 2022's
Misadventures of Doomscroller,
Dawes have crafted one their shortest and tightest albums to date that also happens to be one of their most enjoyably experimental. Produced with longtime associate
Jonathan Wilson, the record is a brief at seven tracks. Of course, two of those songs -- the opening "Someone Else's Cafe/Doomscroller Tries to Relax" and the closing "Sound That No One Made/Doomscroller Sunrise" -- are over-nine-minute epics, in which the band punctuate singer
Taylor Goldsmith's poetic lyrics with jazzy guitar solos and fusion-esque instrumental sections. It's a vibe that evokes the proggy 1970s style of
Steely Dan without losing any of the emotive, singer/songwriter pathos that marked the best of their past work. As with 2020's
Goodluck with Whatever, there's a sense that
Goldsmith and his bandmates are still ruminating on the troubled state of the world and seeking refuge in small pleasures. On "Doomscroller Tries to Relax,"
Goldsmith sings, "So, let's enjoy each other's company on the brink of our despair." This palpable blend of experimental rock and philosophically introspective songwriting continues throughout
Misadventures of Doomscroller. We get the
Fleetwood Mac-style guitar arpeggiations of "Comes in Waves" and the bluesy, barroom kinetics of "Ghost in the Machine." On the latter,
Goldsmith underlines the existential dread at the core of the album, singing, "All the doubts and hesitations/I built up in my early years/Are under reconsideration/Through the music of the spheres." In some ways,
Dawes' stylistic explorations here feel akin to how their similarly inclined contemporaries
Wilco also profoundly expanded their sound with 2001's
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Thankfully, all of
Misadventures of Doomscroller feels relaxed and organic to where
Dawes find themselves eight albums into their career. ~ Matt Collar
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