In her latest slick indie single, “Love Wins,” indie pop humorist and healer DawgGoneDavis gets a little more forceful with her lead vocal, and to me, comes into her own in a fashion we just didn’t experience in her last couple of singles. Don’t get me wrong; her discography contains some fun works from any angle, but there’s something decidedly more mature about the construction of “Love Wins,” and you don’t have to be a professional critic to recognize it as much. DGD is at ease with her narrative in this single, and despite the stylization of her words, she isn’t hesitant in her execution for a second here.
The lead vocal has a way of overpowering everything in this mix, but I think this feature was entirely intentional on the part of the producers. Beneath the harmony formed between the verse and the instrumentation in the backdrop lies a bevy of humor-christened expressiveness DGD doesn’t want to let go of, and by using her voice to conceal its presence, her melody implies a fear of vulnerability quite appropriately matched with the style of the storytelling in these lyrics. DGD has tremendous depth beyond the surface level, and that’s impossible for anyone who has heard “Love Wins” to deny.
This production quality is squeaky clean from top to bottom, and I think it highlights the fact that indie players like DawgGoneDavis don’t have to gloss or break the bank to achieve a killer result at the end of the day. There’s still a bit of a DIY element to the burn off the hook, specifically when she’s straddling the groove following the chorus, but it’s never presented as a jagged edge here. Refinement can come in many different shapes, and it’s obvious this artist took some time thinking about how she wanted to employ it in her latest release.
The unique tone of the lyrics is made possible mostly through the intensity of DGD’s vocals rather than the thrust of the instrumentation or even the presence of the beat, but this doesn’t take anything away from the core value of their content, either. Duality is something that, in almost every situation, can set the pros from the amateurs apart in the pop genre, and if we’re to judge this player off on her most recent submission to the masses, I think it would be safe to situate her in the category of burgeoning underground elites.
The last five years have brought us a breakout era for DawgGoneDavis, even with the music industry being hobbled by numerous elements, and if she can keep the energy going into this new year and the slight return to normal it will hopefully bring, she’s going to be in for a lot of success. When comparing this with some of the tracks that have made the biggest noise in her career to date, the growth DGD has experienced becomes difficult for even ignorant listeners to miss, and I don’t believe it’s going to slow down as long as she stays dedicated to and outside of the studio.
Heather Savage