I would hang out with Dawes. What’s not to like? They make great, straight forward music that is free of pretention and full of soul. The four gentlemen involved in Dawes are as follows: Taylor Goldsmith, Griffin Goldsmith (fraternal duo, not a romantic couple), Wylie Gelber, and Alex Casnoff. To be quite frank, the name Griffin was to get me on board, but if you’re not as easily persuaded, let me do more to convince you. Dawes sounds distinctly American, perhaps due to their heavy soul influence. They also have made it their modus operandi to capture the inherent nature of their instruments. The guitars sound like guitars, and the organs sound like organs. No distortion, no synthesizers, and no auto-tune. The vocals are pure and devoid and resonate perfectly with the musical backdrop. All in all, this band is well worth your time.