`Oh Brother` is the ninth studio album by Los Angeles-based folk-rock band Dawes. This is also the first album to feature only the band’s cofounders and brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith following the departure of bassist Wylie Gelber and keyboardist Lee Pardini. The album features additional contributions from touring guitarist Trevor Menear as well as other in-studio instrumentation.
`Mr. Los Angeles` is a quirky melodic stop start amusing satire on somebody perceived as being the epitome of somebody from The City of Angels, the bands hometown, where people appear to be more La-la-land than normal. We have a rockier reflective offering with `Front Row Seat` with some complex guitar chord riffs on route and throughout, a kind of soul-searching contemplative life reflection.
`Surprise! ` is a deep slow burn about falling out of love with someone, a fairly melancholic number that had a kind of Steeley Dan texture. There`s a tale of being with somebody but maybe not really knowing them on `Still Strangers Sometimes` a further meditative mid paced number.
`House Parties` is an uplifting listen that underlines the good times and simple pleasure gained from celebrating with friends. A more sombre serious appreciation on a relationship follows with the wistful `King of the Never-Wills` which is full of raw emotion.
`The Game` is a rhythmic number, relaying a tale of a kind of “I could a been a contender” or a what if or only while `Enough Already` has a nimbleness or lightness of touch about it
`Hilarity Ensues` is a stripped back offering with just piano and vocals that seems to take a sceptical view on a relationship or association.
There`s a real emotional rawness to `Oh Brother` which seems to dwell on the unpredictable nature of life. It`s a kind of honest, unforgiving and at times unflinching evaluation on relationships and existence. An album that you`ll possibly gain more from each time you return to it.
Rating 7.5/10
