HITS magazine has a great feature up about The Dunwells LA gig and their debut album Blind Sighted Faith. Check out the piece here! 

The Dunwells at the Hotel Café/Blind Sighted Faith(Playing in Traffic): Don’t ask what a five-piece band from Leeds, U.K., fronted by brothers Joe and David Dunwell, along with a pair of cousins in bassist Rob Clayton and drummer Jonny Lamb, is doing on an Austin-based indie label with a debut album recorded atWillie Nelson’s famed Pedernales Studio. Fresh from the Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis, the group was in town for their first-ever performance in L.A., where they were greeted by fervent fans like Cameron Crowe, music supervisor George Drakoulias and veteran ConcordA&R exec Joe McEwen. Aligned  five abreast on the tiny stage, with drummer Lamb astride a hollow, miked box, the Dunwells evoke Mumford & Sons with multi-part harmonies that have been compared to Crosby, Still & Nash, but they have a winsome, fresh-faced Celtic fervor all their own. The songs are a little bit more amplified on the album, produced by former Roxy Music bassist John Porter, who has worked on albums from The Smiths, The Go-Go’s and Elvis Costello to Buddy Guy, B. B. King, Jimmy Smith and John Lee Hooker. The title track is performed first, a self-fulfilling prophecy about their own commitment to the task at hand, “What are you waiting for, oh your chance/You open up this door/And you make it last,” precisely what they seem to be doing in front of an excited audience feeling the buzz of a band breaking in front of their eyes and ears. “Elizabeth” follows, “Someone hold on to something because I’m spinning out of control,” the momentum gaining as they play, but the harmonies remain tight, the melodies controlled. In “Goodnight My City,” they’re “Waiting for tomorrow like it’s never been here before,” the exhilaration palpable in the air, band feeding off audience, and vice versa.  David straps on a banjo for the one-listen, wish fulfillment of “I Could Be a King,” which evokes classic British Invasion in its power-pop fantasy, “Oh, I could be a king/I could be a super hero/Staring down the barrel of a gun/I could be a piece of artwork/Fading into the sun.” bringing back echoes ofChronicle.  It’s a triumphant, feel-good anthem, evoking both the stateside Decemberists and so many of theirU.K. roots-rock brethren. You can just feel the Dunwells connecting, turning those dreams into reality, as one of their songs puts it, “In the Moment.” For these five lads from Leeds, to quote yet another track on their album, it’s a matter of “Perfect Timing.” Get ready to hear a lot more from—and about—the Dunwells.

The Dunwells U.S. tour has only just begun and there is already so much to report.

On Sunday evening, The Dunwells played their first show opening for Los Lonely Boys. After their performance, the crowd erupted in applause… a standing ovation…for the opening act! Turns out, this was only a preview of good things to come.

The band brought their Americana/rock/folk/soul sound to L.A.’s Hotel Cafe last night, and in the audience was writer/director Cameron Crowe who won an Academy Award for his screenplay of “Almost Famous.”  Introducing himself to the band after the show to tell them how much he liked their music, he tweeted this morning “The Dunwells! Have arrived.  1st LA show at Hotel Cafe stunning…great songs played w/ everything they’ve got…so much fun to root for em.”

And then there is music industry veteran Robert Lefletz who practically gushed about The Dunwells in his Lefsetz Letter on Sunday after seeing them at last week’s Folk Alliance Int’l in Memphis.  ”Utterly astounding!,” he wrote.  ”I was sitting inches away and my jaw dropped.  FIVE PART HARMONIES?  They sang about love, they sang about hope, and I’m electrified just thinking about it.” You can read the full review here: http://bit.ly/A4Wp1u

The Dunwells’ debut album, Blind Sighted Faith was released earlier this month, and will be out in the UK March 5th.  As part of the tour, the band will hit New York City next Wednesday, March 7 at Mercury Lounge, and will play four shows at SXSW.

The band’s next stop is at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach tonight. You can find a full list of tour dates and more info here: http://on.fb.me/zxTxP4

Purchase the debut album Blind Sighted Faith:

US

iTunes  / Amazon / Amazon mp3 

UK Pre-order

Zavvi / Amazon / itunes