Downhaul – “Dried”

Gabe Kelley

Downhaul – “Dried”

Gabe Kelley

In a week and a half, the Richmond, Virginia indie rock band Downhaul will release their sophomore album Proof. The band’s early tracks “Eyesight” and “Standing Water” have been majestically pretty guitar jams, and today, they’ve hit us all with another one of those.

Downhaul’s latest single is called “Dried,” and like the two songs that preceded it, it evokes both Built To Spill-style twinkly-guitar grandeur and Balance And Composure-style widescreen emo. Frontman Gordon Phillips has a voice that’s both pop-punk nasal and country-fried twangy, and the band builds waves of deeply satisfying prettiness around him.

Downhaul recorded Proof with The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die’s Chris Teti producing, and you can hear some of the spacey ambition of Teti’s band in “Dried.” The song is six minutes long, but it never gets boring. Instead, there’s a reassuring warmth in its expansiveness. Listen below.

Proof is out 5/21 on Refresh Records.

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