Dawes | photo by Magdalena Wosinska | courtesy of the artist

Next month, Los Angeles rockers Dawes will return with their sixth album, Passwords, and today the XPN favorites raised the curtain on two teasers of the record that with a remarkable dynamic range.

First, there’s “Living In The Future,” a track that XPN program director Bruce Warren has been playing daily at maximum volume from his office ever since an early stream of it arrived at the station a few weeks ago. It’s Dawes at their biggest and boldest, yearning and desperate, screaming into the void about the despair of modernity — it opens on a note of quiet tension, and builds to an explosive refrain that hits borderline Imagine Dragons territory. It’s going to sound massive in the arenas that Dawes are playing this summer opening for Jeff Lynne’s ELO.

Then there’s “Crack the Case,” a more subdued and piano-driven ballad, a brooding thing of beauty that takes it down to the opposite extreme of “Future”‘s peaks.

Check out both new songs below; Passwords is out on June 22nd via HUB Records, and Dawes plays the Wells Fargo Center on August 24th opening for Jeff Lynne’s ELO. Tickets and more information on the show can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar, full tour dates are below.


Tour Dates
May 20 /// Houston, TX /// The Great Texas BBQ Festival^
August 2 /// Oakland, CA /// Oracle Arena*
August 4 /// Los Angeles, CA /// The Forum*
August 5 /// Los Angeles, CA /// The Forum*
August 8 /// Denver, CO /// Pepsi Center*
August 10 /// Houston, TX /// Toyota Center*
August 13 /// Dallas, TX /// American Airlines Center*
August 15 /// Chicago, IL /// Allstate Arena*
August 16 /// Detroit, MI /// Little Caesars Arena*
August 17 /// Wellston, MI /// Hoxeyville Music Festival^
August 18 /// Toronto, ON /// Air Canada Centre*
August 21 /// New York, NY /// Madison Square Garden*
August 22 /// New York, NY /// Madison Square Garden*
August 23 /// Vienna, VA /// Wolf Trap&
August 24 /// Philadelphia, PA /// Wells Fargo Center*
September 15 /// Fredericton, NB, Canada /// Harvest Jazz And Blues Festival^
September 16 /// Canton, MA /// Festival At The Farm^
September 22 /// Franklin, TN /// Pilgrimage Music Festival^

* w/ Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra
^ Festival Date
& w/ Shovels & Rope