Dave Gross - Nocturnes and Daydreams
Rating
RIYL
John Butler TrioCall Me Ishmael
The Dear Hunter
Beirut
Tracklist
1. My Sleeping Chambers2. A Celebration
3. Now That You're Gone
4. A World Inside
5. Our Lullabye
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Dedication is serious business. Even as you sit at your desk, reading this little piece, there are hundreds of thousands of people dedicating themselves to their chosen craft, even as they toil in anonymity. Some have seen many great successes, only to sink beneath the radar as time fades the memory of what was. Still others are on the brink, just waiting for that right opportunity, right moment, right person to present itself. Others are limited simply to spend countless free hours in pursuit of self-enrichment. Many of these people may be perfectly content, even exuberantly happy, to pursue their dreams without wish for high regard or esteem; the simple act of their chosen pursuit being more than enough to sate their desires of fame and fortune. And it is these people that time does not forget. Flashes in the pan fade, die out, and sometimes become a joke to those who remember.
Any dedicated person, though, never gives up and never stops pursuing a dream, no matter how large or how small. Dave Goss has dedicated himself to music. He may sometimes dream of the big time, the radio play, the record deals, the gigantic stadium tours, but when listening to Nocturnes & Daydreams, his latest solo effort since the split of his old band West at Seven, it's obvious that Goss would be just as happy being a tiny bar's star performer, sitting behind a piano and singing blues standards to half-interested patrons as he would if he were hitting the road with a group of his fellow performers, best friends, and most vicious business associates.
As he churns his way through five tracks that run from lo-fi folk-indie stylings to broad, beautiful brushstrokes of Americana, from downtrodden lounge-blues melancholy to jagged, jutting neo-classic rock, Goss proves himself a likely prospect for whatever his dream may be. As Nocturnes & Daydreams opens, it seems he could easily wedge himself into the grassroots folk/Americana scene that Beirut, The Dear Hunter, John Butler Trio, DeVotchKa, and others have brought very near the forefront, but as the album continues down its path, it's easy to imagine Goss somehow latching onto the Radiohead-but-not-Radiohead sounds of Kieskagato, Lake Trout, The Cooper Temple Clause, or Call Me Ishmael, grinding it out in and around his hometown of Vacaville, but never really catching on anywhere else, except in small, scattered areas, one or two people at a time.
I don't pretend to know what Dave Goss's aspirations are, but it's safe to assume that, should he aspire to become one of the more notable singer-songwriters of this new century, Nocturnes & Daydreams is a great start and it would not, under any circumstances, be a bad idea to retain his main collaborators (drummer Matt Kadi, bassist Dorsey Thompson, trumpeter Paul Marenco, and violinist Kristen Jones) for future musical ventures. It's not often that a little EP shows this much promise without even a tiny label footing part of the bill. My desire to catch up with West at Seven has brought about an EP that brings back dedication to a field I have, over the last several months, considered leaving behind. It's not a perfect EP, but it is an inspiring case study in the understated value of the independent musician and those who have aspired to keep their hopes alive.
--Ben Rice
Comments
"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against
Sacramento, CA
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