Double Header: The Dawes Part Two

Peace in the Valley – The Dawes – North Hills

For the second part of the double header I thought about reviewing one of the Dawes more country songs (Western Skyline), but actually chose one that represents another side of the ban where they kick in a little grit in the guitar tone and get down to some bluesy music. Don't get the wrong impression; it’s not B.B. or Freddie king, but it does drop into some heavier toned, darker, stuff, especially when paired against it poppy review companion When My Time Comes.

Clearly, I’m a big fan of bands that can put some attitude and emotion into their music, and while that’s certainly something I love about the song I also think its placement in the album makes it even more appealing and powerful to me. Instead of going out with lyrics and the spoken word, where the album (and half of the song) is really centered, it ends the album with a spacious, thoughtful sound. Guitar tones are sustained and bent, reaching high and hitting low hard. It really is like the image of "peace in the valley", a quiet spacious expanse that is below normal ground, the lyrics and speaking and voices of that proliferate the album before it. It's interesting that the Dawes choose to fill this peaceful place with such an emotive, hard, guitar tone and I think it really speaks to the final lines "If I don't find peace in the valley, I've got no place else to look.". Much like the rest of the album it takes on a reflective tone (When My Time Comes is mostly written in past tense, and is a self narrative), the last line seems to say that if he can't find peace in the valley, where he's the only person there, where else will he find it. Sadly when the vocals drop away we don’t find peace, instead we hear the long tormented wails of a guitar, rising and falling, until the end. It signals a sad realization that sometimes the trouble you find in the world is trouble you bring to it. Enjoy.

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