Quite apart from its Black Friday release date, Dawes’ Stripped Down at Grimey’s comes at just the right time for both the band and its fans. It should remind both parties what brought them together in the first place, a bond that might well have become tenuous due to the anonymous nature of the group’s last full-length LP Stories Don’t End.
The simplicity of these ‘stripped down’ arrangements precludes any loss or camouflage of their collective personality. The rhythm section of Griffin Goldsmith on drums and Wylie Gelber on bass is as insistent but unassuming as a heartbeat, while Tay Straithorn’s preference for electric piano over organ adds to the intimacy of the performance.
Accordingly, harmonies such as those on “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” while not complex, affect a sharp contrast with Taylor Goldsmith’s lone voice as it elicits drama from the song, particularly at its conclusion. The unadorned sound of the group is also an effective foil for the detail in the lead vocalist/guitarist/songwriter’s lyrics: the insight of his narrative on “Someone Will,” for instance, expands the scope of the band’s performance as well as his writing.
These thirty-plus minutes recorded at the independent Nashville music emporium also reveals some of what went wrong with Stories Don’t Tell. “Most People” doesn’t rise above the cliché at the heart of the song, as its wordy verbiage creates clutter the group vocals can’t clarify any more than Goldsmith’s chiming guitar solo. The errant execution of that piece only becomes more obvious by its juxtaposition with “Something in Common,” where Dawes marry the composition’s intent with a concise arrangement.
Ultimately, Stripped Down at Grimey’s doesn’t wholly make up for the misstep of its predecessor, but allows Dawes to effectively retrench. In that light, concluding these half-dozen tracks with “A Little bit of Everything” makes sense in terms of musical dynamics as well as the concept of this record: Goldsmith’s emotive singing at the song’s climax doesn’t belie his intelligence, but rather reaffirms it’s not necessary to choose between the head or the heart.
top photo by John Brassil
