This blog entry takes us to California where we are lurking on the softer side folk, country & americana. First we have the new Dawes album All Your Favorite Bands. I’m a long time Dawes fan and really loved the first two records. Especially Nothing is Wrong which was #3 on my Albums of the Year 2011 list. However, I think it’s been a while since I last wrote about Dawes, because I never really got into their 2013 album Stories Don’t End. I did buy copy and it wasn’t a bad album by any means. Still I just couldn’t find any reason to be truly excited about it.

But enough about the past. Dawes just released a new album called All Your Favorite Bands and they are back in excellent form. It’s early days, but I’m really loving this one. Oh Taylor. Oh Taylor Goldsmith. I’m not sure when and where they rank the sexiest men on the planet, but if I have a saying, Taylor gets my vote. As handsome as anybody and sings like an angel. And what about his guitar playing. So damn good. And it’s not some pointless finger acrobatics, his playing serves the song. Playing the guitar should always be about delivering the song into a person’s heart instead of just delivering an ego boost to the guitarist himself. Taylor seem to be aware of this. I understand if someone thinks the lyrics lack some depth, but I don’t really have any complaints. I guess the lyrics might not win a poetry competition, but together with the music they form something rather magical that moves me deeply. To Be Completely Honest is the biggest treasure. This however is the the excellent single Things Happen.

Dawes Website

Staying in California, but moving to the softer side of country music. Sam Outlaw’s long-waited new Ry Cooder-produced album Angeleno finally saw the light earlier in the week. I got to say I was mildly disappointed when I started listening, but thankfully the first two turned out to be my least favorite songs on the album. Then the third song I’m Not Jealous arrived with its old-fashioned country charm. It ticked all the right boxes and suddenly listening to the album was a true country bliss.

Angeleno is very soft, polished and easy to listen to. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you. I’m a romantic pop type and I don’t have many complaints. Maybe a song or two feel a little bit overproduced, but in overall I’m really enjoying listening to this. Still I can understand if this sounds a little lukewarm for a person who thinks that country music should also have a lot of hurt and rawness. I think Angeleno is a damn fine album that works especially well as a gentle country record for the Sunday morning blues… that often takes place seven days a week. This is I’m Not Jealous from Angeleno.

Sam Outlaw Website

A couple of Australian gents on this little blog entry. First we have the legendary pop troubadour Darren Hanlon. A man who can create a moving pop song about pretty much any subject. I’m a long time fan and therefore I’m really ashamed that it took me this long to write a few words about his new excellent album Where Did You Come From?. This is not his most instant album, but definitely a rewarding one. For example Letter From an Australian Mining Town is such a gorgeous song. Same can be said about the first single When You Go. I could marry the moment where Darren sings “you always take the madness when you go”. Where Did You Come From? is now out and available on Yep Roc in the USA and on Darren’s Flippin Yeah Industries in the rest of the world.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyi19WZ_zmw]

Darren Hanlon Website

Ben Mason and his album She’d Need a Heart is a new favourite that just came out in early June, 2015. Ben used to play in The Smallgoods. I was somewhat familiar with them, but the first couple of solo albums had slipped through my not-that-good pop knowledge. It looks like Ben has also covered the whole Odessey & Oracle album by The Zombies. I have to listen to that one day, because it’s one of the best albums ever released. The new one was produced by a hero of mine Adam Selzer and also features a bunch of other favourite musician from groups like The Decemberists, Death Cab For Cutie and The Delines. However, this namedropping wouldn’t take me anywhere, if the songs and the record weren’t any good. No worries though. Ben Mason has written a really good album. In a way it takes me to the 60s orchestral pop or why not even baroque pop a’la The Left Banke, but somehow it still feels and sounds very modern. Perhaps that contrast is one of the things that makes it so captivating. There’s not an individual track that could perfectly capture the whole beauty of this record and I fully recommend listening to this from the first note to the last. However, to get you hooked, this is the beautiful title track from the album She’d Need a Heart.

Ben Mason Website