Review of Time To Die Album by The Dodos
Review of The Dodos album Time To Die released through Wichita.
If you like indie rock, you should not be without Visiter, the second album from The Dodos. On Visiter, their sound was crystallised, to great effect. The duo, from San Fransisco perfected their percussive, polyrhythmic, acoustic-but-not, hypnotic-as-a-swinging-watch style with Visiter.
On Time To Die, they throw in a degree of complexity, which may explain the choice of Phil Ek to produce (previously credited for producing Fleet Foxes, Shins and Built To Spill). This new complexity takes them closer to the likes of The Shins but still half a notch back from that path. Instead, The Dodos choose to build sonically, wildly, adding in vibraphone-with effects to the mad fingerpicking and harmonies. Coming at The Dodos with a judgement made is hard. The band will blow your mind away like The Annuals will. You will not get to the middle of Time To Die without some kind of intellectual input. Your journey will keep you awake and curious, un-anaesthetised and engaged. Time To Die may lack the obvious singles thrown out by Visiter but then The Dodos are not a singles band. Time To Die works much better as an album, though, which in itself is a significant recommendation.
4/5
Mike Rea
Site - http://dodosmusic.net
