Veteran American rockers, Dawes, have announced the release of their extraordinary new album. The Los Angeles-based band’s seventh studio LP, GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER, arrives via Rounder Records on Friday, October 2; pre-orders are available now. Produced by 6x GRAMMY® Award-winner, Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit), at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER is heralded by today’s premiere of Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?, available now at all DSPs and streaming services. The high-spirited track is joined by an official companion video, streaming now at the official Dawes YouTube channel. Listen here and watch the video here.
GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER – which marks Dawes’ first release on their new label, Rounder Records – follows a series of acclaimed self-released albums including 2013’s STORIES DON’T END, 2015’s ALL YOUR FAVORITE BANDS, 2016’s WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE, and 2018’s PASSWORDS, all of which reached the top 10 or higher on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts.
From its first downbeat, the new LP sees Dawes frontman, Taylor Goldsmith, grappling with the expectations of adulthood on a remarkable cycle of new songs fueled by many of the same elements that first earned the band worldwide attention and applause – graceful melodies with kinetic riffs and intricate musical interplay. Throughout the album, Dawes once again prove incredibly adept at pushing the emotional limits of the classically structured rock song, a testament to their tightly honed yet imaginative musicianship and the gripping specificity of Goldsmith’s songwriting. A culmination of their entire catalogue and decade-long career all wrapped up in nine glorious tracks, GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER reclaims the rugged urgency and easy confidence of Dawes’ early work while tapping into the veteran band’s intense musical connection more effectively than ever before.
“In the past, I’ve definitely been more precious about the way I wanted the songs to sound, but that’s never as fun,” Goldsmith says. “The music we make is everyone’s mode of expression, and the other guys all have chops that I don’t have and never will. The fact that we’re able to lean on each other and celebrate each other as individuals just makes us so much more excited about getting to play together in this band.”
Dawes also recently unveiled LIVE FROM RICHMOND, VA, a spectacular 11-track concert recording available exclusively as a digital download via Bandcamp; all proceeds will be divided between Reform LA Jails and Black Lives Matter Los Angeles.
Dawes is: Taylor Goldsmith (guitars, vocals), Griffin Goldsmith (drums), Wylie Gelber (bass), Lee Pardini (keys).