Austinist Album Capsules: Dawn Landes & Headlights

Dawn Landes Fireproof (Cooking Vinyl)

Having been out since March 4th, this review definitely falls into the ‘better late than never’ category. Landes, who upcoming will be playing a few dates with artists like Peter Mor n of Peter, Bjorn and John, Jonathan Rice and Josh Ritter before heading to Paris to play a lo fi folk festival, has become quite a pro at the organic folk awash with harmonies, stringed instruments and deep, crisp drums. Her second full length, Fireproof, features Landes on vocals, guitar, organs, banjos, pianos and bells, among others, along with other players on pedal steel, mandolin and harmonica from bands like Hem. Some of the tracks on the album are more alt. country singer/songwriter tunes full of guitar strings snapping, twanging and singing under the weight of her nimble fingers ambling along with heavy bass notes and all the troughs and peaks of Landes’ sentimental voice. Other songs like “Twilight” are sung sweetly airy and breathy, spiking with tender, soothing tones set to a minimalist folker. It starts with just a sketch of an acoustic riff, some light drum brushing, a pedal steel whine or two, the occasional bell chime, and then finishes strong after simmering for a bit.

Dawn Landes Official
Dawn Landes MySpace

Headlights Some Racing, Some Stopping (Polyvinyl Records)

It’s also been a little while since the release of Some Racing, around a month or so, but it’s a release that’s worth the ink and deserves something a little bolder than the 6.8 rating the album received on Pitchfork. Although, that’s not really that bad. This, their second full-length for Polyvinyl, is a shimmer and shake record full of pop cuteness and frolicsome numbers. It’s a blend of ‘60s French pop poise, soul and twinkling, effervescent indie pop. The key sounds add an orchestral girth along with the heartiness of light and flirtatious, layered male and female vocals. Singer Erin Fein at times sounds like a newly-found girl group member and as cradling and dreamy as Jenny Lewis. “Cherry Tulips” is one of the tracks on the album that jangles with the tambourine and school dance beat of an ancient pop recording. It hums with an organ behind a simply-sung chorus that sounds like it would be just as at home in the 1960s as it would in 2008.

Headlights Official
Headlights MySpace