Good Luck With Whatever are

LA出資のテイラー・ゴールドスミス(g,vo)、グリフィン・ゴールドスミス(ds)、ワイリー・ゲルバー(b)、リー・パルディーニ(keys)から成る4人組バンド、DAWESのRounderデビュー・アルバム。(7枚目のスタジオ・アルバム)

2013年の「STORIES DON'T END」をはじめ、これまでセルフ・リリースしてきた2015年の『ALL YOUR FAVORITE BANDS』、2016年の『WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE』、2018年の『PASSWORDS』は、いずれもビルボードの"TOP ROCK ALBUM"と"AMERICANA/FOLK ALBUM"チャートでトップ10以上を記録。

本作は、10年に及ぶキャリアの集大成とも言える作品でドーズの初期の作品が持つ荒々しい衝動と安易な自信を取り戻しつつも、ベテランバンドの強烈な音楽的つながりをこれまで以上に効果的に利用したもので古典的なロック・ソングの感情の限界を押し広げることができることを改めて証明している作品。
「これまでは、曲のサウンドにこだわりを持ってきたけど、それは決して楽しいものではなかったんだ」とテイラー・ゴールドスミスは言う。「僕たちが作る音楽はみんなの表現方法であり、他のメンバーはみんな僕にはなく、これからも持ちえないよさを持っているんだ。」バンドとしての成長がうかがえる強力作品!

Dawes lead singer/songwriter Taylor Goldsmith is in an anxious mood on the bands seventh album, 2020s lyrically incisive Good Luck with Whatever. On the wry, Bowie-esque title track, he paints a picture of suburban dread, singing Theres a man with a chainsaw/Standing out in my yard/He says hes just trimming trees/But hes clearly trying too hard. And what of that conspicuous Chevy Suburban with the government plates? While its unclear if Goldsmith has done anything to warrant his fear, hes not taking any chances and plans his getaway as the cars engine idles ominously outside. Equally potent images arise throughout Good Luck with Whatever as Goldsmith writes candidly about growing older and finding ways to retain a sense of identity in an increasingly complicated and troubling world. This emotionally spent vibe is most present in lyrics where Goldsmith teeters towards poetry, somehow making inspired use of cumbersome words like amnesty and pendulum. That said, its his knack for straightforward ironies that really grab you. On Still Feel Like a Kid, in which he writes about how people often still feel like children despite their age, Goldsmith sings, I cant stay up past midnight anymore/But I still feel like a kid/Theres always part of me thats a little sore/But I still feel like a kid. The band recorded the album in Nashville with producer Dave Cobb, whos helmed projects for alt-country luminaries like Shooter Jennings, Sturgill Simpson, and Jason Isbell. He brings tactile warmth to the record, reinforcing the groups classic pop inclinations and never getting in their way. Theres a sense on the album that Dawes are consciously picking out finely curated aspects of their influences: the Mark Ronson-esque fuzz-tone guitar lead on Good Luck with Whatever, the Paul Simon intimations of St. Augustine at Night, and the way None of My Business smartly marries Born to Run-era Bruce Springsteen with late-60s the Band. We also get the driving late-70s power pop of Who Do You Think Youre Talking To, the Tom Petty-inspired Between the Zeros and the Ones, and the ruminative 80s adult contemporary of Didnt Fix Me. Of course, none of this sounds too slavish and speaks to Dawes firm grasp on their influences. Good Luck with Whatever is dad rock at its finest, unapologetically classicist in tone and full of a hard-won gratitude. But the way that its also struck through with a wry sense of existential dread speaks to the groups decidedly un-dad-like ability to perfectly capture the climate of the present moment. ~ Matt Collar