San Francisco duo The Dodos first came to my attention with 2008’s Visiter, a record that mixed percussive acoustic guitars with complex drumming to create a unique folk sound that stood out dramatically from similar bands in the burgending folk revival starting to appear around that time.
For whatever reason, I haven’t kept up with The Dodos output in the years since Visiter, so I’ll avoid trying to link their new record, Individ, into some grand narrative of musical evolution and just directly compare the two. While the new album doesn’t hit the songwriting heights of Visiter, it’s still a solid record, albeit one with the distinctive production values somewhat cleaned up. Individ is at its best when stripped back to a chugging acoustic guitar and a beat, such as on “Goodbyes and Endings”. More “produced” moments (ie. whenever there’s an electric guitar), sometimes dip a little too close to by-the-numbers indie tracks and lose the poignancy that seems to underlie The Dodos better work.
Highlights include “Goodbyes and Endings”, “Bubble”, as well as closer “Pattern/Shadows” (featuring a nice outing from Brigid Dawson from Thee Oh Sees).
Well worth a listen.
Individ is out now through Polyvinyl Records.
