Artist: Dawn & Hawkes
Album: Yours And Mine
Label: Self-released
Release Date: 10/02/2015
After a pleasing but largely overlooked debut, 2012’s Golden Heart EP, Dawn & Hawkes return with Yours And Mine, an album guaranteed to melt the hearts of all who hear it. Miranda Dawn and Chris Hawkes purvey a soft strum and gilded sentiments, mostly unaccompanied save for the sound of the acoustic guitars beneath their burnished harmonies.
Dawn, a finalist for the New Folk Songwriting Competition at the 2012 Kerrville Folk Festival, made her national bow with Hawkes on The Voice, leading judge Adam Levine to trumpet their take on the Beatles’ “I’ve Just Seen a Face” as his “favorite performance on the show… ever.” From there, things escalated quickly. They achieved a high ranking on the folk music charts, a string of prestigious support gigs and regular appearances on the national festival circuit as well.
Despite their sudden success, it’s easy to understand why so many have been smitten. The sparse arrangements are perfectly suited to these celebratory songs about life and love, and titles like “Yours And Mine,” “Love You Forever,” “Never Feel Alone” and “Life Is A Good Song” offer more than a slight hint about the optimism and emotion expressed in the duo’s delicate designs.
Given that wistful stance, the material mostly keeps an unassuming posture, and if at times the music tends a bit precious, only a genuine cynic would deny feeling moved by the aforementioned offerings and the unfiltered exuberance of such tracks as “Never Feel Alone” and the tune that follows, “Almost Mine.” It’s lovely, lilting and clearly heartfelt—in short, too winsome to resist. That said, one would best be advised to simply succumb.
—Lee Zimmerman
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