Dawes Passwords

Dawes' Taylor Goldsmith has always been the kind of insightful singer/songwriter whose lyrics read a lot like poetry. They're like thoughtful journal entries turned into literate, symbol-heavy songs rife with self-effacing revelations and timely insights into the state of the world. So it makes sense that the band's sixth studio album, the aptly titled Passwords, finds Goldsmith investigating notions of communication -- with ourselves and with each other, both successfully and pathetically -- and the myriad ways our social media-frenzied climate can make the truth feel so elusive. He addresses this theme explicitly on the crunchy midtempo opener, "Living in the Future." Singing in a hushed deadpan delivery, he sneers "It's the battle of the passwords/It's the trumpets on the hill/It's that constant paranoia/It's the final fire drill." While he certainly imbues the rest of the album with an equally ominous sense of big-brother fatigue, the warmth and innate humanity at the core of each