‘The Ghost Of Her Smile’: Daniel Avery teams up with NewDad’s Julie Dawson
In the modern rock landscape, may I offer up Julie Dawson as one of its leaders? From her post leading NewDad, to her solo efforts and now her collaborative work, the Irish singer is never not hypnotic.
Here, she’s teamed up with Daniel Avery as part of his upcoming record, packed with incredible names joining the producer on tracks. Already, he’s delivered the tense and dark ‘Greasy Off The Racing Line’ with Alison Mosshart and a slice of soaring alt-pop alongside Cecile Belive, so clearly any sense of genre has gone out of the window simply in favour of greatness.
Elsewhere on the upcoming record, Tremor, names like Art School Girlfriend, Yuele, and Hull rock favourites Bdrmm will be getting involved for what is sure to be a dynamic tracklisting and one primed to reveal new and interesting corners of Avery’s talent as a composer and producer.
But here, it’s Dawson that steals the limelight on ‘The Ghost Of Her Smile’. As simplistic as it sounds, Dawson feels like one of those artists who is born for this, and specifically for this genre. Thank god she’s found her sound so young, as her contributions to that specific world of wistful, gothic, shoegazed tinge rock are already looming. On NewDad’s debut album, MADRA, that talent was sparkling. But on their recent release, Altar, it’s clear that she’s also an artist who is only going to level up and up.
Part of that will all come down to side quests like this. Working alongside someone like Avery, who has mostly existed in a very different world from Dawson and NewDad’s guitar rock, is only ever going to be inspiring as these two different sounds and soundmakers combine their creativity.
It was revelatory for Avery, too, who said of this track, “The longer I live with Tremor, the more this track feels like a shining light on the horizon after a night in the fog.” After the far rowdier Mosshart track, this collaboration with Dawson is more understated but beautiful that way.
To Avery, and the hordes of NewDad fans that he counts himself within, that’s where her power lies, as he said, “To me Julie is the embodiment of a modern rock star: enigmatic and formidable yet utterly beguiling.”
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