Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong (2LP) - 45RPM Orange/Gold Vinyl

Dawes’ second album, Nothing Is Wrong, arrived in 2011 on ATO Records, and it still feels like a band fully stepping into its identity. The Los Angeles quartet of Taylor Goldsmith, Wylie Gelber, Griffin Goldsmith, and Tay Strathairn sharpened the warm, harmony-rich sound they’d started on North Hills and pushed it toward bigger rooms without losing the intimacy that made people fall for them. Produced by Jonathan Wilson, the record leans on live-feeling takes, ringing guitars, and lyrics that sound overheard on a late drive down Sunset after last call.

It kicks off with “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” a song that more or less became their calling card during this era. The chorus lands easy, but the verses carry a sting, all ambivalence and homesick romance. Hearing Taylor’s phrasing snake around Griffin’s steady backbeat is a reminder that this band swings gently even when they sound laid back. “If I Wanted Someone” turns up the heat, with a tough, chiming riff and a vocal that reads like a boundary finally being drawn. It is one of the few Dawes tracks that nods toward a heavier guitar edge, and it works because the rhythm section never lets the pocket slip. Strathairn’s keys glue it all together, a warm Wurlitzer glow that rides just under the top line.

Mid-album, the record settles into a run of songs that reward patient listening. “Fire Away” glides on an easy tempo and close harmonies, the kind of track that makes you notice how carefully these parts are stacked. “Coming Back to a Man” has a bright melody and a sly sense of regret under the surface. “So Well” cuts deep with a deceptively simple chorus and a verse melody that hangs on small, telling details. “Moon in the Water” slows the room down, all soft shimmer and the sense of a thought you cannot quite shake. The sequencing is smart. “How Far We’ve Come” adds lift just when you need it, and “My Way Back Home” builds tension until it spills over into a roof-raising refrain.

Then there is “A Little Bit of Everything,” one of Taylor Goldsmith’s most beloved songs and a set-list anchor for years. It is a narrative piece that moves between lives with a novelist’s eye, taking in heavy moments and small mercies, and then tying them together with a chorus that feels both bruised and generous. The band plays with real restraint here. Every piano figure, every brush on the snare, serves the story. It is the kind of closer that sends you back to track one to hear the earlier songs with fresh ears.

The sound of Nothing Is Wrong invites vinyl listening. The low end is warm and present, the guitars breathe, and the backing vocals sit where they should, close to the lead like an old friend leaning in. If you collect Dawes vinyl, this album sits right near the top because it rewards full sides rather than singles. Drop the needle on side one and that opening pair pulls you straight in. Flip to side two and let the pace and space of those later tracks stretch out. If you are looking to buy Dawes records online, make sure you catch a clean copy, since quieter songs like “Moon in the Water” shine when the noise floor is low. Plenty of shops file it beside other Dawes albums on vinyl, and for good reason, it is a gateway for anyone curious about the band’s early peak.

Context helps. Dawes came up steeped in the Laurel Canyon tradition, and you can hear echoes of that lineage here, but the writing on Nothing Is Wrong stands on its own. The characters feel contemporary, the settings familiar, the turns of phrase sharp without showing off. For a lot of fans, this album was the moment they realized Dawes was more than a revivalist act. It is a songwriter record that also plays big, the rare combination that sounds as good in the headphones as it does in a theater.

If you are crate digging for Nothing Is Wrong vinyl, you will know you found a keeper when “A Little Bit of Everything” lands with that quiet hush before the final chorus. Whether you pick it up at a local shop or while scrolling through vinyl records Australia late at night, it is the kind of purchase that keeps paying dividends as the grooves wear in.