Dave Hause

Item: Resolutions
Rating: 8
Author: Tori Pederson

Resolutions (2011)

Tori Pederson

It took a few spins for Dave Hause's debut solo full-length, Resolutions, to click, but when it clicked, it clicked hard. After a few cursory listens, I dismissed it as sounding like nothing more than acoustic Loved Ones songs. It wasn't until I gave the record my full attention that I realized how great and diverse it actually is.

To be fair, opener "C'mon Kid" would feel right at home on 2008's Build & Burn, and the following track, "Heavy Heart" could be easily be a Loved Ones track if backed by a full band and a little distortion. Opening with these two tracks is a nice way to reel in fans of his past work, but at the same time might cause some to dismiss Resolutions as more of the same, as I initially did.

The next song, "Meet Me at the Lanes" is where things really take off. The song sees Hause dropping a lot of names, some we're familiar with, and some we aren't, while its "We lose track of each other, and life speeds past / We need more nights like this, they always go too fast / Let's all get together and avoid our adult crash" chorus makes it one of the best "longing for the past" songs since the Gaslight Anthem's "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues".

"Prague (Revive Me)" recalls Green Day's "Misery", both musically and lyrically, and is one of the more adventurous songs Hause has written to date, sounding like nothing else on the record or anything in the Loved Ones' canon. Elsewhere, "Pray for Tucson" and the title track are more traditional sounding, but top-notch all the same.

Resolutions contains some of the finest songs Hause has written yet, and the way I see it, leaves two big possibilities for the next Loved Ones release: Either all this adventurousness rubs off on the group and they make an extremely well-rounded, diverse album, or with all of this experimentation out of his system, Hause write a full-throttle barn-burner like Build & Burn again. Either way, I'm excited to see what the future holds for this great songwriter, and will be enjoying Resolutions in the meantime.